ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Rockford University men's volleyball team fell 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-22) in its conference opener against the Concordia University Chicago Cougars Tuesday night. Concordia Chicago held an advantage in nearly every statistical category, including kills (45-29), aces (7-3), assists (42-29) and digs (39-33), while Rockford held the advantage in blocks (10-3). The Cougars were able to take the first set handily, but CUC and Rockford battled wire to wire in each of the second and third sets. The Regents even held a late lead in both sets, but unfortunately, the Cougars were able to come from behind in both the second and third sets to win themselves the match in straight sets.
- The Cougars opened the match with a 7-2 lead.
- Rockford battled its way to a two-point deficit after three straight points from the Regents, including a kill from Josh Albers to make it 7-5.
- CUC put together a 10-4 run to take a commanding 17-9 lead and Rockford never got any closer than six for the rest of the set as the Cougars eventually wrapped up the first set 25-17.
- Concordia Chicago again got out to a 7-2 lead to begin the set.
- The Regents stormed back into the set with a 6-3 run that included a kill each from Isaiah Dixon, Josh Albers, Danny Karpenko and Jordan Hurst.
- Rockford continued to chip away at the CUC lead, later tying the set at 15-15 after three straight errors from the Cougars.
- The Regents and Cougars traded points approaching the late stages of the set, with Rockford holding a slight 23-22 lead.
- Unfortunately, the Cougars were able to score three straight points to take the third set 25-23 and put themselves up 2-0 in the match.
- Rockford and CUC opened the third set trading points to a 5-5 score.
- The Regents were able to muster up an 8-4 run to take a 12-8 lead. The Regents had a kill each from Josh Albers, Nathan Simons, Danny Karpenko and Jordan Hurst, as well as an ace from Jacob Brewster during the RU run.
- CUC was able to work its way back into the set, eventually tying it at 16-16 and the Regents and Cougars continued to battle into the later portion of the third set.
- Rockford did find themselves ahead 22-21 late in the third set, but the Cougars were again able to come from behind and this time score four straight points to take the third set 25-22 and win the match in straight sets.
- Danny Karpenko had a team-high 9 kills on an impressive.529 hitting percentage. He also had 3 blocks and 4 digs.
- Josh Albers had 6 kills, 13 assists, 5 digs and 1 block.
