FULTON, Mo. - The Rockford University men's volleyball team split its two matches on Saturday falling 3-0 at Westminster College and winning 3-1 against Simpson College. Both matches were very close and could have gone either way. Rockford was within a trio of points late in each of the first two sets against Westminster and then took the third set to extra points before falling 25-20, 25-21, 28-26. Rockford was then out in front for the vast majority of its second match of the day against Simpson. The Regents did not trail in the first or third sets and only momentarily trailed in the very early portion of the fourth en route to the 25-14, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22 win.


Westminster 3 Rockford 0

• The first set went back and forth over the first 30 points. Neither team scored more than two consecutive points and there a total of 11 ties and four lead changes. 
• With the scored tied at 15-15, Westminster scored the next five points as a part of a larger 10-5 run to win the opening set 25-20 and take a 1-0 lead. 
• Although the second set was close, Rockford was playing from behind the entire way. 
• Westminster led 3-1 and steadily pushed its lead up as many as seven points at 16-9. 
• The Regents cut the deficit down to five points on several occasions before finally getting back to within three. Josh Albers and Joseis Dixon each had a kill during a 3-0 spurt to make the score 23-20. 
• However, the Blue Jays tallied two of the next three points to win the second set 25-21.
• The third set did not get off to a great start for the Regents. The Blue Jays opened on a 12-7 run to take a quick five-point lead. 
• Fortunately, the Regents responded with a 5-0 run, led by two kills from Nathan Simons and two aces from Danny Karpenko, to tie the score at 12-12.
• With the score now tied at 15-15, Wesminster scored six of the next seven points to tie its largest lead of the set at five. 
• The Blue Jays then had four match points at 24-20, but the Regents vanquished them all with a 4-0 run. Isaiah Dixon got things started with a kill and then Rockford forced three Blue Jay errors. 
• The Regent were able to erase two more match points at 25-24 and 26-25, but ultimately dropped the third set 28-26 and the match 3-0.

Rockford 3 Simpson 1

• Rockford opened the first set with a 6-0 run and never looked back. Josh Albers and Isaiah Dixon each had a kill over that span. 
• The Regents pushed their advantage up to seven at 12-5 following a Josh Albers ace and a Danny Karpenko kill. 
• With Rockford now leading by eight at 18-10, the Regents used another 3-0 run to take a 21-10 lead and put the set out of reach. 
• The Storm never got any closer than ten the rest of the way, as the Regents took the opening set 25-14.
• The second set had a near identical start to it with Rockford scoring the first four points. 
• However, this time it was the Storm that responded with a 14-4 run to take their largest lead of the match at 14-8.
• With Simpson still holding a 19-15 advantage, Rockford used a 7-2 run to take its first lead since 5-4. Josh Bowling, Josh Albers and Nathan Simons each had a kill and Tsubasa Namai delivered an ace over that span. 
• Unfortunately, Simpson closed on a 4-1 run to win the set 25-23 and even the match at 1-1.
• Rockford began the third set by taking a 9-5 lead before Simpson scored the next four points to tie it at 9-9. 
• The Regents answered the Storm's 4-0 run with four straight points of their own to take a 13-9 advantage. Tsubasa Namai ended the run with back-to-back service aces. 
• Rockford led by as many as five following a Tsubasa Namai kill at 20-15. 
• However, the Storm came roaring back to to make it just a one-point RU lead at 21-20. 
• Fortunately, Rockford ended on a 4-2 run, capped off by a Josh Albers kill, to win the third set 25-22 and take a 2-0 lead. 
• The fourth and final set followed a similar pattern with the Regents holding a narrow lead the majority of the way. 
• Rockford led 7-4 early thanks in large part to a 4-0 run. Isaiah Dixon was directly responsible for three of Rockford's first seven points with two kills and an ace.
• The Regents would eventually build their lead up to as many as six points at 15-9.
• However, the Storm would not go into the night quietly. Simpson used a pair of 3-0 runs over a span of 13 points to make just a one-point game at 19-18.
• With the Regents still clinging to a one-point advantage at 22-21, Rockford closed on a 3-1 run, capped off by an Isaiah Dixon kill to win the set 25-22 and the match 3-1.

Westminster

• Isaiah Dixon had a team-high 8 kills, 1 ace, 1 block and 1 dig.
• Danny Karpenko finished with 6 kills, 4 aces, 2 blocks, 1 dig and 1 assist.
• Josh Albers added 19 assists, 6 kills and 3 digs.

Simpson

• Isaiah Dixon led Rockford with 11 kills, 3 digs, 1 block and 1 ace.
• Josh Albers tallied 10 kills, 17 assists, 5 digs, a block and an ace.
• Joseis Dixon had 9 kills, 7 digs and an ace.
• Danny Karpenko finished with 8 kills, 5 digs, 2 aces, 1 block and 1 assist.
• Tsubasa Namai had 25 assists, 9 digs, 4 kills, 3 aces and 2 blocks.

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