Norfolk, VA - On Friday night the Regent University Men's Volleyball team gave Head Coach Colby Yawn his first career collegiate coaching win after earning a hard-fought five-set victory (25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-9) over the Averett University in front of a rowdy crowd on Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night.  The hard-fought victory not only marked the Royals' first win of the young 2026 season but it also saw three single-game records fall.  The match would feature 24 ties and 12 lead changes across the five sets.  Regent jumped out to strong leads in sets one and three, but the Cougars battled back keeping the score close throughout the match.. The fourth set saw Averett even the match at 2-2 after a late surge, but the Royals responded in the fifth and final set.jumping out to a commanding 8-3 lead to eventually earn the win.

Senior Jaxson Gray (Chesapeake, VA) played his best game of his career recording 6 blocks (setting a new single-game school record) while adding 8 kills and a service ace, while on the defensive side, Senior Ariel Downer (Spring Lake, NC) finished with 27 digs — establishing a new single-game program record — to keep rallies alive and give Regent multiple opportunities to counter.  Fellow Senior Lucas Whitman (Chesapeake, VA) orchestrated the offense with 37 assists (also a single-game school record) while contributing 3 kills, 2 service aces and 10 digs in the win  Offensively, Senior Keith Larkin (Snohomosh, WA) led the attack with 15 kills and 3 service aces, while Freshman Sam Parsons (Fayetteville, NC) added10 kills and Senior Preston Nemeti (Burke, VA) had 7 kills on the night. As a team, the Royals finished with 47 kills, 10 service aces, 12 overall blocks and 72 digs. 

Regent will be back in action Wednesday, January 28th when they make the short trip down I-64 to face Virginia Wesleyan University.  First serve is scheduled for 7:00pm.