MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Rockford University men's volleyball team fell in straight sets on the road Thursday night to the MSOE Raiders. MSOE won the first two sets by fairly convincing margins, before battling to the very end with the Regents in the third set (25-12, 25-14, 25-20). Rockford had just 19 kills and a -.011 hitting percentage, which was the Regents' lowest output in both areas since the season opener against Illinois Wesleyan. Conversely, MSOE racked up 35 kills and a .200 hitting percentage. A final key to the Raiders' victory was MSOE's 8-0 edge in service aces.
- The Regents led at several points very early on in the first set, including at 5-3 following back-to-back kills by Isaiah Dixon.
- However, the Raiders tied the score at 5-5 and then again at 6-6, before they began to steadily pull away.
- With MSOE now holding a 9-8 advantage, the Raiders outscored Rockford 16-4 to win the opening set 25-12.
- The second set began the exact same way with Rockford holding an early 5-3 lead. Josh Albers led the way offensively with a pair of kills over that span.
- However, MOSE hit right back with a 5-0 spurt to retake the lead at 8-5.
- The Raider advantage hovered around five points, until MSOE outscored Rockford 9-3 down the stretch to win the second set 25-14 and take a 2-0 lead.
- The third set got off to a rocky start, as MSOE jumped out to a 10-4 advantage.
- With the Regents now trailing by seven at 13-6, Rockford proceeded to score the next four points to make it just a 13-10 game. Jordan Hurst jump-started the RU run with his second kill of the match.
- Rockford would later tighten the score even further, following a Danny Karpenko kill to make it just a two-point MSOE lead at 17-15.
- Unfortunately, that was as close as Rockford would get, as the Regents dropped the third set 25-20 and the match 3-0.
- Isaiah Dixon tallied a team-high 6 kills, 3 digs and a block.
- Da'Quan Bates had a match-high 11 digs and 1 assist.
- Josh Albers finished with 9 assists, 4 kills, 3 digs and 2 blocks.
