Rarick, Huntzinger lead Rio past Golden Bears

Rio Grande Sports Information
     BECKLEY, W.Va. - Amanda Rarick equaled a career-high and teammate Avery Huntzinger established a new one as the University of Rio Grande cruised to a 3-1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 25-17) win over West Virginia University-Tech, Tuesday night, in River States Conference women's volleyball action at Van Meter Gymnasium.
     The RedStorm, who snapped a two-game losing slide, improved to 14-10 overall and 8-5 in conference play with their second win over the Golden Bears in three outings this season.
     WVU-Tech slipped to 7-20 overall and 4-8 inside the RSC as a result of the loss.
     Rarick, a junior from Canal Winchester, Ohio, finished with 26 kills in the victory, tying her career-best mark established earlier this season in a five-set loss to the Golden Bears on Sept. 2.
     She finished with just five attack errors in 44 swings for a .477 attack percentage.
     Huntzinger, a sophomore from Canal Winchester, Ohio, tallied 61 assists to erase her previous career-best total of 59, which was set in the same loss to Tech on Sept. 2.
     Rio's 64 kills were one shy of its season-high of 65 set - yes - in the Sept. 2 loss to the Golden Bears.
     Sophomore Jordan Brooks (Reynoldsburg, OH) and junior Shalea Byrd (Canal Winchester, OH) finished with 16 and 10 kills, respectively, in the winning effort for the RedStorm.
     Rio scored seven of the final 12 winners to snap an 18-all tie and capture the opening set, while Tech scored seven of the final points in the second stanza to erase a 22-19 deficit and even the match.
     The RedStorm used an attack error by the Bears and a service ace by senior Jess Youse (Pettisville, OH) to snap a 15-15 tie and take the lead for good in set three, while bolting to a 14-5 lead and never looking back in set four.
     Junior Darcie Walters (Sparta, OH) was credited with 24 digs for Rio, while Huntzinger had 10 digs and two solo blocks.
     Byrd finished with three solo blocks, Youse was credited with two solo blocks and two service aces and senior Kacie Trame (Toledo, OH) also had two service aces for Rio.
     Coralys Maldonado Rivera had 13 kills to pace WVU-Tech, while Ana Muniz Rocandio had 11 kills and 10 digs.
     Julia McClanahan had 39 assists for the Golden Bears, while Brooke Presley and Emma Leach added 12 and 11 digs, respectively.
     Rio Grande returns to action on Friday night when it opens a two-game weekend homestand against Carlow University.
     First serve is set for 7:05 p.m. at the Newt Oliver Arena.