ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Ohio Dominican Panthers (26-6) volleyball team kicked off play in the 2025 NCAA Midwest Regional on Thursday (Dec. 4) afternoon against the Rockhurst Hawks (22-10) at the Mark Twain Building.

The #2 seeded Panthers fell 3-0 (22-25, 20-25, 21-25) to the #7 seeded Hawks in the regional quarterfinal, hosted by the University of Missouri-St. Louis. 

Set 1 

The first set was a very competitive battle with 14 ties and six lead changes. Neither team led by more than three points. After the score was tied 13-13, Jenna Peters had a kill and a service ace to give ODU a 15-13 lead. Back-to-back Rockhurst points tied the match again at 15. Grace Zinchuk and Logan Rubel combined for kills as ODU led 17-15. Rockhurst scored four straight points, leading 19-17 as Ohio Dominican called timeout. The Panthers tied the set at 19 with the Hawks answering with a 4-1 run and a 23-20 lead. Peters slimmed the lead to 23-22 with consecutive kills but the Hawks won the set 25-22. 

Peters had seven kills in the first set with four digs. Christian Tarter led the defense with five digs. 

Set 2

There were six ties in the first 14 points with a 7-7 tie score. Rockhurst led by as many as five points before the Panthers took their first timeout, trailing 16-11. Lauren Dinunzi capped a 6-3 rally with an ace to get ODU within 19-17. The lead grew to 21-17 as ODU scored three of the next four points to trail 22-20. The set ended 25-20 in favor of Rockhurst. 

For the set, Peters was the leader with five kills and four digs. 

Set 3

Like the first two sets, the beginning of set three was back-and-forth. After four ties in the first ten points, there was a 5-5 tie on an attack error by Rockhurst. The Hawks used an 11-6 run for their largest lead of the set, 16-11. The Panthers got on an 8-1 run to force a pair of Rockhurst timeouts, taking an 19-17 lead on an attack error and a Chloe Gels kill. Rockhurst closed the match with an 8-2 run, winning the match. 

Gels, Logan Rubel and Grace Zinchuk all had three kills in the last set. 

Peters led the Panthers with 13 kills, three service aces and was tied with ten digs. Tarter joined Peters on defense with ten digs. Rubel and Zinchuk had seven kills on offense with Zinchuk adding four block assists. Dinunzi served up a pair of aces with seven digs in the match. 

Following the match, head coach Amy Bambenek spoke on the season as a whole, "We were so grateful for the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. It's been a long time coming for nine seniors and our team, who have made a lot of progress this season and over the years. It's been a great fight this season even though this was not the result we wanted."