ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Rockford University men's volleyball team fell 3-1 to the Benedictine University Eagles Tuesday night. Still, the Regents played their best match of the season, hanging in there with the Eagles for the entire match. Rockford also put together a season-high 57 kills and had at least 13 kills in each of the four sets. This included 18 kills on a .324 hitting percentage in the first set, allowing the Regents to take the first set 30-28 for the first set win over the Eagles in program history. The second set belonged to the Eagles (25-17), but Rockford and Benedictine battled wire to wire in the third and fourth sets. Unfortunately, despite the battle from Rockford, Benedictine was able to wrap up the final two sets by putting together two late-set runs to secure the third (25-20) and fourth (25-22) sets. This ultimately allowed the Eagles to come back from the 1-0 deficit to give them the match victory in four sets.

• The Regents and Eagles opened to a 5-5 score after back-to-back kills from Nathan Simons to tie the set for Rockford. 
• Rockford took control of the set with a 9-5 run that saw two kills from Danny Karpenko and one each from Jordan Hurst, Josh Bowling, Nathan Simons, Isaiah Dixon and Josh Albers to take a 15-11 lead. 
• The Eagles slowly chipped their way back into the set with a slight 10-7 run that made it a 22-21 RU lead. 
• Benedictine then scored three out of the next four points to sit at set point 24-23, but the Regents responded to tie the game and traded points with the Eagles to stay alive in the set, until Rockford was eventually able to put together three straight points to finally take the first set 30-28. 
• The Eagles got out to a 5-2 lead to start the second set. 
• However, Rockford hung within striking distance, battling to a 10-7 lead for the Eagles. 
• Unfortunately, Benedictine slowly added to their lead throughout the set, eventually holding an 18-12 lead. 
• Rockford would cut the lead to five on three separate occasions, but this was as close as the Regents would get the rest of the set as the Eagles eventually closed out the second set 25-17. 
• The Regents held a slight 3-2 lead to begin the third set, but the Eagles took over the lead with five straight points to take a 7-3 lead. 
• Rockford eventually made it a one-point game with a 10-7 run that was led by Jordan Hurst, with 3 kills during that stretch. 
• After the Eagles took the next two points, the Regents scored four straight to take a slight 17-16 lead, their first since early in the set. 
• The Regents and Eagles battled to a 19-18 RU lead late in the set, but unfortunately, Benedictine scored seven out of the last eight points in the set to take the third set 25-20 and go up 2-1 in the match. 
• Rockford opened to a 6-2 lead to open the third set after back-to-back kills by Josh Bowling and Josh Albers. 
• The Eagles and Regents battled to a 14-11 RU lead after both teams traded a pair of 3-0 runs. 
• Neither team held more than a three-point lead for the remainder of the set. 
• Benedictine and Rockford continued to trade points, clawing back and forth to an eventual 22-22 score. 
• Unfortunately, despite the battle from the Regents, the Eagles were able to score the final three points of the set to secure the fourth set 25-22 and ultimately win the match 3-1.

• Isaiah Dixon had a team-high 16 kills on an impressive career-high .452 hitting percentage. Dixon added 1 dig and an ace as well. 
• Josh Albers added a career-high 12 kills, 18 assists, 7 digs and 1 block. 
• Nathan Simons tied his career-high with 9 kills, set a new career-high in digs with 9 and had 1 block. 
• Tsubasa Namai provided a season-high 27 assists, 3 digs and added a kill. 
• Da'Quan Bates added 8 digs and a career-high 8 assists. 

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