LISLE, Ill. - The Rockford University women's volleyball team (7-22) played its final two matches of the season on the road Friday evening against Wheaton College (17-12) and Benedictine University (20-7). Unfortunately, it was a difficult day for Rockford, as the Regents opened with a 3-0 loss (25-6, 25-12 and 25-16) to Wheaton, before falling 3-0 (25-8, 25-14 and 25-18) to Benedictine.
Wheaton College (25-6, 25-12, 25-16)
- It was a difficult opening set for the Regents. The Thunder began with a quick 8-2 run to take an early six-point lead.
- Rockford was able to get back with five points at 9-4, after kills from Mackenzie Blizniak and Nicole Eggers.
- However, Wheaton closed the set on a 16-2 run, to take a 1-0 lead.
- The second set got off to a rocky start, with Wheaton scoring 15 of the first 17 points.
- Rockford was never able to get any closer than ten points the remainder of the way, and ultimately fell by a final score of 25-12.
- Fortunately, the Regents played much better in the third and final set.
- The Regents and Thunder each led early on in the set, before the two schools ended up tied at 5-5. Rockford was led by a kill each from Della Crain and Alyssa Ashford over that span.
- Wheaton then scored four straight points to take its largest lead of the set thus far, at 9-5.
- However, Rockford responded right back with a 5-2 run of its own, to pull back within a single point. Sophomore Paige Carpenter led the RU attack during that stretch with a pair of kills.
- The Thunder lead hovered around three points for an extended period of time, before they began to pull away late.
- Wheaton closed the match on a 7-1 run, to take the third set 25-16 and the match 3-0.
Benedictine University (25-8, 25-14, 25-18)
- Rockford also got off to a slow start in its second match of the day. Benedictine opened on an 11-3 run, including scoring the first five points of the set.
- The Regents were never able to get any closer than seven points, and would drop the first set 25-8.
- The second set was tight in open moments, with Rockford clinging to an early lead. The Regents began with two kills from Nicole Eggers and single kills from Della Crain and Jacey Wilson to take a 4-3 advantage.
- Unfortunately, Benedictine slowly and methodically began to pull away. The Eagles used a 7-1 run to over the next few minutes to take their first lead of the set, at 10-5.
- Benedictine's lead hovered around three points until the Eagles went on a 10-2 run to seize control of the set, at 21-10.
- The Regents were unable to get any closer than ten points the remainder of the way, falling by a final score of 25-14.
- Rockford again got off to a slow start in the third set, as Benedictine scored five of the first six point to grab a quick 5-1 advantage.
- However, this time the Regents responded right back with a 6-4 run, to pull back within a couple of points. The RU attack was led by a pair of kills from Della Crain and one kill apiece from Nicole Eggers and Alicia Puente.
- The Benedictine advantaged remained around three points until late in the set. The Eagles closed the match with a 7-3 run, to win the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.
Wheaton College
Benedictine University
- Della Crain once again led the offensive attack with a match-high 10 kills and 1 block assist. With the regular season coming to an end tomorrow, Crain is currently eighth in the NACC in kills (269) and seventh in kills per set (2.92).
- Jessica Witkowski finished with 9 assists and a team-high 7 digs.
- Casey Sheetz added a team-high 11 assists and 1 dig.
- Brooke Mirshak had 6 digs, 1 assist and 1 ace. With one day remaining in the regular season, Mirshak is currently fifth in the NACC in digs per set (4.46) and eighth in digs (370).
