BELOIT, Wis. - The Regents volleyball team begin its season this weekend at the Buc Blast Tournament. Rockford played a total of four matches over two days, including one exhibition match against UW-Marathon County. The Regents went 1-2 against NCAA Division III opponents defeating Beloit 3-1 and losing to Illinois Tech and Alverno.
Rockford's first match of the tournament came on Friday afternoon against Illinois Tech. Despite losing in straight sets, the ladies played well during spurts. After dropping a difficult first set 25-12, the Regents fought hard and nearly won the second set before ultimately falling 25-23. Illinois Tech would then complete the straight set victory winning 25-16 in third set. Offensively it was Kayla Van Buren (Franklin Grove, Ill.) who led Rockford with 6 kills, while Taylor Rossi (Ingleside, Ill.) had a team-high 13 assists. Defensively Madison Lanquist (Rockford, Ill.) tallied a team-high 15 digs, while Katie Fowler (Stillman Valley, Ill.) recorded a team best 4 block assists. As a team the ladies did an excellent job at the net tallying 14 block assists and 1 solo block.
Following Friday's loss, the Regents evened their record at 1-1 with a 3-1 win (25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 25-19) against Beloit College. The ladies were much better offensively against the Buccaneers as they tallied 43 kills as a team and had multiple individuals in double-digits. Kayla Van Buren once again led the way with a match-high 18 kills on just 33 attempts for an impressive .424 kill percentage. Fellow senior Marissa Plock (German Valley, Ill.) also did a nice job at the net tallying 11 kills on 33 attempts. Both Van Buren and Plock were set up all match long by junior Taylor Rossi who finished with a team-high 32 assists. Defensively the Regents had a trio of players finish in double-figures in digs. Madison Lanquist recorded a team-high 16 digs to lead the Regents for the second straight match. Plock and Rossi each also hit double-figures with 12 and 11 digs respectively.
Rockford's final match at the Buc Blast Tournament came against NACC foe Alverno College. This was the first of two meetings in less than two weeks between the Inferno and Regents. Unfortunately for Rockford, Alverno came out on top 3-0 on Saturday. Kayla Van Buren continued to pace the Regents offense with yet another impressive performance. She tied for the match-high with 13 kills on just 22 attempts for an outstanding .545 kill percentage. Taylor Rossi also had a good performance with 23 assists, 12 digs and 5 kills. Madison Lanquist and Katie Fowler again tallied double-figures in digs with 11 and 12 respectively. Freshman Krista Beach (Ashton, Ill.) had a good all-around performance with 11 assists, 5 digs, 4 kills and 2 service aces.
Senior Kayla Van Buren and junior Taylor Rossi were rewarded for their outstanding play by being named to the all-tournament team. Van Buren finished the tournament with 37 kills, 7 blocks and 4 digs. Rossi had 68 assists, 29 digs, 9 kills, 3 aces and 3 blocks. Rockford was one of only two schools to have multiple players earn all-tournament recognition.
The Rockford University volleyball team returns to the court on Tuesday, September 8 at Mount Mary University. The match has a scheduled start time of 7 p.m.
