WATERTOWN, Wis. - The Rockford University men's volleyball team triumphantly returned to the court on Monday night with a convincing straight sets victory (25-16, 25-18, 25-21) over Maranatha Baptist University. The Regents were in control for nearly the entire match, never trailing by more than five points all day. One of the key reasons for the win was Rockford's ability to generate easy points. Rockford set a school record with 18 service aces in just three sets and also got another eight free points off Sabercat service errors.
- Rockford opened the match with a 9-4 run and never looked back. Josh Albers and Danny Karpenko each smashed a pair of service aces to help give the Regents an early lead.
- The Regents stretched their lead to as many as nine thanks to four straight points midway through the set. Josh Albers led the way with an ace and a kill over that span.
- The Sabercats did not get any closer than five the rest of the way, as Rockford took the opening set 25-16.
- The second set was much closer as neither team led by more than four until the very end.
- With Rockford leading 17-16, the Regents scored four straight points off three consecutive kills from Isaiah Dixon and a Connor McNear ace.
- Maranatha answered with two straight points of its own. However, the Regents tallied the final four points, capped off by a Josh Albers ace, to win the second set 25-18 and grab a 2-0 lead.
- The third set got off to a rocky start for the Regents. Maranatha scored the first five points as a part of an 8-3 run.
- Following a Rockford timeout, the Regents went on a 15-3 run to seemingly seize control of the set. Connor McNear had four kills and Matthew Seger had a pair of service aces over that span.
- The Regents led by as many as eight points at 22-14 before Maranatha began to make things interesting down the stretch.
- The Sabercats scored seven of the next eight points to cut the Regent lead down to just two at 23-21.
- Fortunately, Rockford was able to score the final two points to win the set 25-21 and the match 3-0.
