DENVER – No. 4 seed Regis turned in one of most efficient matches of the season on one of the biggest possible stages, a .430 clip, to overwhelm fifth-seeded St. Leo 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-18).
 
Regis (26-4) is playing in the national quarterfinals for the second time in three seasons, while St. Leo (24-11) was making the program's first-ever quarterfinals appearance.
 
"It was a fun match," Regis coach Joel List said. "That's a good St. Leo team, but in some ways I feel like that's how we came into an Elite Eight match two years ago. The maturity we've gotten over the last couple of years helped the way we played tonight. We had a game plan and we did a very good job of executing it.
 
"We had a very clean match. We keep stats on how many points we earn, and I think in the second set we earned all 25. St. Leo didn't make a lot of unforced errors to give us points. Playing clean at this point in the game is what you need to do, and I thought we did a great job of that."
 
For Regis, Nikki Kennedy had 13 kills on .600 hitting (one error, 20 attacks) and added six blocks (one solo). Kristen Hornung had 12 kills on .800 hitting (no errors, 15 attacks) and had five blocks (one solo). Between the two, they hit .686. Silvia Basso set 48 assists.
 
For St. Leo, Nina Vattovaz hit 10 kills on .409 hitting.
 
"It was great that these girls fought to get here," St. Leo coach Jason Skoch said. "I'm a big believer in experience, and I think it reigned supreme tonight. Regis is experienced and this is our program's first regional title. I think it played a part in how our girls handled their emotions because I think we back-slid in some of the things we do in our execution. But it's a rite of passage, and that's something people have to understand."