ST. MARY-WOODS, Ind. -- The Rockford University men's volleyball team fell 3-2 to Park University Gilbert on Friday. Set scores were 25-15, 21-25, 25-20, 26-28, 15-10.
Jordan Hurst had 19 kills with four blocks and an ace.
Nathan Simons put down 10 kills with six digs and an ace.
Jacob Brewster led the Regents on the defensive end with 16 digs, while
Joseis Dixon had double-digit digs with 10. In the assists column,
Tsubasa Namai had 45.
PUG took control of the first set as the Regents only saw the lead once, the entire set, when they had a 3-2 advantage as the set was competitive for half of it, as the Regents were trailing 14-11. From there, the Buccaneers outscored the Regents 7-1 to increase their lead, making it 21-12 to pull away in the first.
RU bounced back in the second set, starting with a kill from
Zachary Lobue. The set was competitive throughout, as the Regents scored two straight points to take a 4-3 lead and never gave it up the rest of the set, tying the match at one.
PUG built a sizable lead in the third set, jumping out to a 16-9 lead. The Regents fought back with a 7-1 run to pull to within one, making it 17-16. Unfortunately for the Regents, a couple of errors down the stretch gave the Buccaneers momentum back to propel them to a third-set victory.
The fourth set was the most competitive, as PUG had the largest lead of the set, having a three-point lead. In a race to 28, the Regents won to force a fifth set, with a kill from Simons and an attack error from the Buccaneers.
In the fifth and final set, the Buccaneers built momentum early as they built themselves a 10-5 lead as the Regents were unable to trim the deficit at all, falling short in the first of four games this weekend.
The Regents will return to action against Calumet College of St. Joseph at 5 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.
