PUEBLO, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo volleyball team closed out the 2023 regular season here Saturday evening with a hard-fought four-set loss (22-25, 25-22, 14-25, 23-25) to No. 12 Regis in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at Massari Arena.
With the setback, the ThunderWolves fall to 13-13 overall and tied for fourth in the RMAC standings with a 10-3 record, while Regis improves to 20-6 overall and 12-2 in the league.
Saturday's setback, coupled with No. 11 Colorado Mesa's four-set home win over South Dakota Mines, the Pack tied for fourth in the league with South Dakota Mines and will travel to Rapid City, S.D., for a 7 p.m. RMAC Tournament quarterfinal match on Tuesday, Nov. 14. South Dakota Mines earned the home match in the tournament thanks to its five-set win in Rapid City on Sept. 23.
In Saturday's match, the Pack were outhit, .216 to .099 and outblocked, 13-8. In addition, Regis held an 11-7 edge in service aces in the win.
Leading the way offensively for the Pack was redshirt sophomore outside hitter
Payton Van Veen (Springfield, Mo./Washburn University) and sophomore opposite side hitter
Kendall Harrington (San Antonio, Texas/Tom C. Clark) each had 11 kills, while sophomore outside hitter
Sadie Scoville (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove) added 10 kills and 11 digs for her team-leading 12 double-doubles.
Freshman libero
Maddox Richtmyre (Surprise, Ariz./Willow Canyon) added 14 digs, while junior middle blocker
Josey Nunn (Kingwood, Texas/Porter) had a team-high five blocks.
Junior setter
Sabrina King (Parker, Colo./Lutheran) had 19 assists and six digs, while senior setter
Grace Jansen (Sandy, Utah/Jordan) tallied 16 assists and seven digs.
Regis, who earned the No. 3 seed in the RMAC Tournament, was paced by 12 kills, seven blocks and a .360 hitting percentage by Nadine Burbrink. In addition to Burbrink, Amelia Davis added 11 kills, six blocks and hit .348 and Halle Theis had eight kills and five blocks in the win.
Mara LeGrand tallied 33 assists and 13 digs for the Rangers, who will host No. 6 seed Chadron State in the RMAC Tournament on Tuesday.
Regis recorded 47 kills, while Pack had 45 kills in the match.
Set 1: The first set featured five ties and two lead changes. In the set, the two teams played it close early on as Regis jumped out to a 9-6 lead, before Pack used a 5-2 run to tie the set at 11-all. The Rangers, though, responded with an 11-0 run capped by an ace from Bre Skala to push in front 22-11. The Pack wouldn't go away without a fight as they responded to Regis' run with an 11-1 run keyed by four kills from Harrington and capped by back-to-back attack errors by Davis to pull within 23-22. Regis would close the set by scoring the final two points to earn a 25-22 win. Neither team was efficient in the set as the Pack hit .056 with nine kills, including six by Harrington and Regis hit .114 with 10 kills, including five Burbrink.
Set 2: The second set had four ties and two lead changes as Regis jumped out to an early 10-7 lead, before the Pack used a 4-2 run to pull within 12-11. Regis answered with a 7-4 run to push out to a 19-15 lead. The Pack would fight back as they used a 6-2 run capped by an ace from Richtmyre to tie things up at 21. The Pack would then close the set by scoring four of the final five points, including using a kill by freshman outside hitter
Ceanna O'Loughlin (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) to cap its 25-22 set win. In the set, the Pack hit .162, while Regis hit .083.
Set 3: With the match knotted up at a set apiece, the Rangers would never trail in the third set en route to earning a 25-14 win and taking a 2-1 lead in the match. Regis jumped out to a 17-7 lead, before the Pack responded by scoring two straight points to pull within 17-9. That would be as close as the Pack would get as Regis closed out the set by scoring eight of the final 13 points to seal its 25-14 win. Regis hit .367 with 14 kills in the set, the Pack hit .000.
Set 4: Much like the first two sets, the fourth set had eight ties and two lead changes as Regis jumped out to 9-5 lead. The Pack would use a 13-7 run to take an 18-16 lead. The run was capped by an ace from senior defensive specialist
Kealey Marshall (Aurora, Colo./Cherokee Trail). Regis answered back with a 5-2 run to retake the lead at 21-20. After an error on a bad set by Klaudia Sowizral retied the set at 21-all, Regis capped the win by scoring three of the final five points to earn a 25-23 win. In the set, the Pack hit .156 and Regis hit .316.
Up Next: The Pack will turn its attention to the postseason as they open play in the RMAC Tournament on Tuesday, Nov. 14 with a 7 p.m. match in Rapid City, S.D., against No. 4 seeded South Dakota Mines.
