ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Rockford University women's volleyball team (4-7) opened the tournament with two wins. The Regents took three straight sets against Moody Bible Institute (0-5) winnng 3-0. The Regents put on an impressive showing winning by a close margin in all three sets (25-22, 25-17, and 26-24). North Central University (5-4) proved to be a tougher opponent but still no match for the Regents as they won 3-1 (29-27, 30-32, 25-23, and 25-19).
Moody Bible Institute
- Rockford and Moody Bible battled in the first set going point-for-point.
- The Regents started to pull away, going on a 5-0 run led by kills from Della Crain and Jennifer Quintas. Paige Carpenter capped off the 5-0 run with a service ace to make it 16-8.
- The Archers slowly climbed their way back to make it a three point game (24-21) forcing the Regents to a timeout.
- The Regents were able to re-group and come out of the first set victorious 25-22, match point coming on a kill from Jacey Wilson.
- Rockford got off to a quick start in the second set going on a 5-1 run, leading 7-4. During this run, Della Crain slammed down a kill followed by a Casey Sheetz service ace.
- Moody Bible showed signs of life, going on a 6-3 run to tie the second set at 11-11.
- The tie would not last for long as the Regents made another push with a 6-0 run making it 18-12. Mackenzie Blizniak led the 6-0 run with two crucial kills.
- Alicia Puente put the second set away with a big kill to win 25-17.
- A strong service ace from Jessica Witkowski started the third set.
- The Archers came back with five stragiht points to make it 5-3 in their favor.
- It was a tight race in the third set trading point-for-point until the Archers pushed for the win making it 24-21.
- The Regents rallied back for five straight points to take away the win from the Archers. Ultimately, two clutch kills from Paige Carpenter and a kill from Mackenzie Blizniak would boost the Regents over the Archers, 26-24.
North Central University
- Both teams were evenly matched in the first set till the Regents went on a 5-0 run to make the score 10-6. A kill by Paige Carpenter and service ace by Brooke Mirshak capped off the 5-0 run.
- Rockford had an impressive 5-2 run to put them ahead 18-13 with a couple of service aces coming from Paige Carpenter and Jennifer Quintas.
- The Rams stayed neck and neck with the Regents taking the first set to 28-28, until a kill from Paige Carpenter put the Rams away for the Regents to take the first set 29-28.
- The Rams took revenge in the second set scoring a fast six points.
- The Regents answered making it a tied set at 6-6 with kills coming from Paige Carpenter, Alicia Puente, and Jacey Wilson.
- Both teams traded points back and forth for the majority of the rest of the set.
- Unfortunately, the Regents fell in the second set 32-30, Despite a hard fought effort by Jacey Wilson with three kills to keep the Regents alive at the end of the set.
- The Rams took control in the beginning of the third set getting off to a 5-2 start.
- The Regents made a come back with a plethora of kills to go on a 6-0 run to make the score 18-16 in their favor.
- North Central put up a fight by going on a 5-0 run with three service aces from Hallie Fuglestad making it 21-18 Rams.
- However, the Rams could not handle the Regents as they dropped the third set 25-23
- The Regents took advantage of the fourth set starting 4-1 with kills coming from Alicia Puente and Jacey Wilson, along with a service ace from Paige Carpenter.
- It was a close battle between both teams, until the Regents broke it wide open with an 8-0 scoring run highlighted by back-to-back service aces from Brooke Mirshak putting Rockford on top 24-16.
- The Rams could not recover and dropped the final set 25-19.
Moody Bible Institute
North Central University
The RU women's volleyball team returns for a pair of matches at home on Saturday, September 14. The Regents open with Mount Mary at 12 PM followed by Lawrence at 2 PM.
