ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Rockford University men's volleyball team earned its first NACC win 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-22) against the Lakeland University Muskies. The Regents battled hard to earn the three-set victory and were in control of multiple statistical categories by the end of the match.
Joaquin Santillan led the charge on offense, he finished with a team-high 10 kills, a .600 hitting percentage, and a pair of service aces.
- Lakeland got off to a solid start, going up 5-2 on the Regents.
- Rockford soon stormed back, taking five-straight points to take a two-point lead. Nathan Vana contributed an ace and Connor McNear recorded a kill during the run.
- The Regents held on to the slim lead for a short time, until Lakeland broke through and shared four ties with RU over a nine-point span. The sides worked the score to 18-18.
- Rockford pulled away after, earning seven of the final nine points to take the first set 25-20. Danny Karpenko and Joaquin Santillan combined for three kills during the run.
- Rockford exploded out to a 9-3 score to start set two.
- The Muskies started swimming back into the set at 8-10, but the Regents hit their stride again, scoring four unanswered points to go up 14-8. Joaquin Santillan hit back-to-back kills to lead RU.
- The rest of the set was a series of runs. Lakeland battled to a 13-16 score but was met with a four-point Regents run to extend the lead once again.
- The Muskies did not get closer than five points the rest of the way, allowing Rockford to comfortably win set two 25-18.
- The Regents had a scare to start set three, going down 10-4 early.
- It took until RU was down 15-10 before Rockford was able to put together a scoring run. Five-straight points tied the game at 15-15, Joaquin Santillan continued his contributions, scoring a kill and an ace.
- It was a back-and-forth battle for both sides, trading points until Lakeland stepped into a 20-18 lead.
- With the potential for a fourth set looming, the Regents stepped up and delivered a 7-2 run to sneak past the Muskies and take set three and the victory 25-22. Joaquin Santillan made the impact down the stretch, earning three kills, including the final kill to win the match.
