It was a gloomy day for the Regals on Sunday in the Gilbert Sports Arena, when the University of Puget Sound Loggers defeated the Regals in the championship game of the NCAA Western Regional 14-25, 26-24, 25-21 and 27-25.

From the looks of the first game, it seemed as though the Regals were going to completely shut out the Loggers, winning the first game by a whopping 11 points.

Although this was not the case, the Regals did not go down without a fight.

Sophomore outside hitter Kylie McLogan had the game-high of 24 kills.

She was hitting the ball harder than she ever has before.

“I think it came from wanting to help my team and wanting to win the Regionals for our seniors,” said McLogan. “I think we were a little exhausted, but Puget Sound is a great blocking team and in the end, they peaked at the opportune time.”

Freshman outside hitter Allie Eason had a very competitive game against the Loggers, and earned 16 kills with only four errors. Eason also did well in the back row, racking up a massive 19 digs defensively.

“I think I was just really into the game. Jena’s [Chavez] sets were amazing throughout the whole game, so it allowed me to get up and swing, and just knowing that my team had my back gave me a lot of confidence to swing,” said Eason. “I knew that it was a big game so I wanted to be able to do my part to help the team.”

Eason played well but the Regals made too many errors to come out with the win.

“I think it just came down to us making too many unforced errors, but Puget Sound definitely played really well and all we can do now is learn from the loss and use it for next year,” said Eason.

Eason is a freshman this year and still has three more years of eligibility with the Regals.

Junior middle blocker Lauren Rohach wasn’t going to let the Loggers win without a fight. She racked up eight kills for the Regals throughout the match.

“UPS played really well and took away some parts of our game that had been going really well,” said Rohach. “We didn’t have our best game of the season, but I think we fought in tough situations under a lot of pressure and a few things just didn’t go our way in tight situations.”

Senior middle blocker Shannon Pearson had eight kills, and freshman right side hitter Pua Mo’okini-Oliveira, had four kills to help the Regals.

The defense was anything but silent as senior libero Rachel Smith and sophomore defense specialist Kennedy Peters dove after as many balls as they could.

Smith had 24 digs against the UPS offense, and Peters helped with 12 digs.

The Regals are ending the season as SCIAC champions with an overall record of 25-9.

Brina Clark
Staff Writer
Published Nov. 14, 2012