ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Rockford University men's volleyball team fell in straight sets to the 14th-ranked Aurora University Spartans Saturday afternoon. The Spartans held an advantage in nearly every statistical category, leading in kills (37-21), aces (14-2), assists (33-20) and digs (28-7), but Rockford held the edge in blocks (4-2). The Spartans also had double-digit kills in each of the three sets while holding Rockford to single digit kills. This led to set scores of 25-14, 25-17 and 25-16, allowing the Spartans to take the match in straight sets.
- The Spartans opened the match with a 7-2 lead.
- Rockford tried to cut into the lead with 3 kills over the next 5 points to make it a 10-6 score. Josh Bowling, Joseis Dixon and Danny Karpenko all provided a kill during this stretch.
- However, the Spartans took control with a 9-4 run to take a commanding 19-10 lead and this was too much to overcome for Rockford as Aurora eventually won the first set 25-14.
- Rockford took a slight 2-1 lead to begin the second set thanks to a kill from Josh Albers.
- The Regents and Spartans battled over the early stages of this set, trading points to a slight 8-7 RU lead, capped off by a kill from Isaiah Dixon.
- Aurora was able to take control with a 12-3 run that gave them a big 19-11 lead.
- The Regents did battle until the end of the set but could not get any closer than 6 the rest of the way, dropping the second set 25-17.
- The Spartans grabbed a 7-4 lead to start the third set.
- Aurora poured it on with an 8-2 run to take a 15-6 lead.
- Rockford scored three out of the next four points to cut the Aurora lead to 16-9, but this was as close as the Regents got as the Spartans eventually took the third set 25-16 to win themselves the match in straight sets.
