Ashland, VA – After an energized home opener on Friday night, the Regent University Men's Volleyball team was back on the road for an afternoon match-up with Randolph-Macon College. This would be the 8th time the Royals have faced a team from the ODAC, so they were very familiar with the style of play they would be facing. However, they knew that it would be a fast-paced game against a Yellow Jackets team that was undefeated in their conference.
The first set began with R-MC grabbing the early advantage, however a kill by Graduate Student Aaron Campbell (Virginia Beach, VA) gave Regent some momentum. Unfortunately, the Yellow Jackets would put together a run, forcing the Royals to call a time out trailing 9-2. Junior Keith Larkin (Snohomish, WA) stepped up to the net for a kill, which was set up by Junior Aubrey Flora (Chesapeake, VA) and the that was followed up with a kill from Graduate Student Colby Yawn (Chesapeake, VA). A few plays later Campbell recorded another kill, but Regent would fall in the first set, 25-10.
The Royals took advantage of some Yellow Jacket errors to keep the score tied at the start of the second set. They would eventually fall behind, but kills by Graduate Student Jaxson Gray (Chesapeake, VA) and Yawn slowed down the R-MC run. Yawn would do it again with three more kills, to go along with one from Larkin, but Regent eventually fell in the set, 25-15.
Campbell came up with a powerful kill at the beginning of the third set and he followed that up with a block to tie the score at 2-2. After another kill from Campbell, he stepped up to the service line a delivered an ace to tie the score and then the Royals would take their first lead of the game after a Yawn block. The advantage would increase to two-points on a Freshman Preston Nemeti (Burke, VA) block and then to three-points after another Yawn kill. The lead continued to grow as Gray came up with a big kill, while Campbell and Freshman Joshua Bissell (Dillsburg, VA) combined for a block at the net. However, the Yellow Jackets would make a run to go back out in front and Regent would fall by a score of 3-0 (25-19).
Yawn finished with 7 kills, while Campbell added 6 kills and 2 aces. In addition, Flora and Bissell combined for 12 assists between them.
The Royals will be back in action on Tuesday, March 4th when they return home to host Bluefield University. First serve is scheduled for 4:00pm.
