BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Rockford University men's volleyball team lost 3-0 in its season-opening game against Illinois Wesleyan University on Tuesday. Set scores were 25-14, 25-22, 25-15.
Jordan Hurst planted 10 kills with an ace. Defensively, Hurst and
Nathan Simons both had a team-high six digs.
In the assists department,
Tsubasa Namai tallied 23.
Simons and
Aaron John Reyes each recorded two blocks.
It was a slow start in the first set for the Regents, falling 25-14, never having the lead in the first set. With a competitive start to the set, IWU pulled away, outscoring the Regents 16-7 when IWU had a 9-7 lead early in the set.
The Regents took an early lead in the second set, jumping out to a 6-2 advantage. IWU then scored four straight points to tie the set, as the rest of the action was back and forth. Unfortunately for the Regents, they made four straight errors when they found themselves up 16-15, as they then trailed 19-16 and never regained the lead, and dropped a hard-fought second set.
Simons made the first kill for the Regents in the third set from
Jacob Brewster, but then surrendered five straight. The Regents were unable to regain the lead the rest of the match as IWU pulled away to close out the sweep.
The Regents will return to action at the St. Mary-of-the-Woods College Tournament on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 30 & Jan.31, where they will play four matches. On Friday, the Regents will play Park University Gilbert (Ariz.) at 4 p.m. EDT and Calumet College of St. Joseph at 6 p.m. EDT. On Saturday, the Regents will face Goshen College at 11 a.m. EDT, ending the tournament vs. Simpson University (Calif.) at 2 p.m. EDT.
