RedStorm grinds down Grenadiers

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Amanda Rarick, Jordan Brooks and Jess Youse all had strong showings at the net, Avery Huntzinger hit a career milestone and the University of Rio Grande shook off a second set bump in the road for a 3-1 win over Indiana University Southeast, Saturday afternoon, in the regular season finale for the two River States Conference women's volleyball teams at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     The RedStorm pushed their record to 17-12 overall and 10-7 in the RSC with a 25-16, 17-25, 25-12, 25-19 victory.
     Rio earned just its third win in 10 all-time meetings with the Grenadiers and their first in the series at home.
     The RedStorm also nailed down the No. 6 seed in next week's RSC Tournament and will face third-seeded Indiana University East in the quarterfinal round on Friday, at 7 p.m., at Point Park University.
     IU Southeast dropped to 12-15 overall and 8-10 with the loss.
     Rarick, a junior from Canal Winchester, Ohio, finished with a team-high 19 kills to go along with four block assists, while Youse - a senior from Pettisville, Ohio - added 15 kills and a team-best five block assists.
     Brooks, a sophomore from Reynoldsburg, Ohio, had 12 kills and just one error in 30 swings, while also assisting on three blocks.
     Huntzinger, a sophomore from Canal Winchester, Ohio, facilitated most of the action with a match-high 47 assists, surpassing the 2,000-mark for her career. She also had a pair of service aces.
     Rio led just 9-7 in set one before a 7-0 run - including five kills by Rarick - propelled the home team to an early match lead.
     IU Southeast held a 13-7 lead in the second period before reeling off six straight winners - four of which were kills by Ella Brooks - to pull away and even the match.
     But the Grenadiers weren't much of a threat the rest of the way.
     Rio jumped to an 11-4 lead in set three and a 10-4 lead in set four, cruising to easy wins in both stanzas and finishing off the match.
     The RedStorm finished with a .287 swing percentage as a team, with 57 kills and only 16 errors in 143 attacks.
     Junior Darcie Walters (Sparta, OH) had 25 digs in the win, while senior Kacie Trame (Toledo, OH) and freshman Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH) added 14 and 11 digs, respectively, of their own.
     Junior Shalea Byrd (Canal Winchester, OH) also had a solo block and three block assists for Rio Grande.
     Brooks led the Grenadiers in a losing cause with a match-high 20 kills and a team-best 21 digs.
     Cate Murphy and Hannah Brown had 25 and 19 assists, respectively, for IUS, while Averee Yoder had 13 digs and Lexi Streigel tallied 13 digs.
     Jessi Kramer also had a solo block and four block assists in the loss.