Red Wolves oust RedStorm in RSC quarterfinals

Rio Grande Sports Information
     PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Third-seeded Indiana University East dodged an early deficit and then pulled away down the stretch for a 3-1 (28-26, 18-25, 25-17, 25-16) victory over the University of Rio Grande, Friday night, in the quarterfinal round of the River States Conference Women's Volleyball Championship at Point Park University.
     The Red Wolves improved to 26-5 with the win and advanced to Saturday's semifinal round where they'll face No. 2 seed and defending champion Indiana University Kokomo.
     Rio Grande, the sixth seed in the eight-team single-elimination bracket, closed its season at 17-13.
     The RedStorm led for much of the opening set and had a pair of set points in which they failed to capitalize upon, as IU East rallied to score of the final points in the stanza - two off kills by Brooke Lepper - to snare an early match lead.
     Rio again led for much of the second set and went on to even the match, but the Red Wolves used key runs in each of the final two sets to pull away and record the win.
     The RedStorm led 10-8 in set three set before IU East reeled off an 11-1 run to open an insurmountable advantage.
     Rio trailed just 10-9 in the fourth set before the Red Wolves collected nine of the next 12 winners to extend their lead to 19-12 and, essentially, settle the issue once and for all.
     Rio Grande committed just two attack errors and had a .462 swing percentage in its second set win, but hit .062 or lower in each of the other three stanzas, finishing the match with 39 kills and 22 errors in 113 attacks for a .150 percentage.
     Junior Shalea Byrd (Canal Winchester, OH) led head coach Billina Donaldson's club with 12 kills, while senior Jess Youse (Pettisville, OH) added 10 kills and sophomore Avery Huntzinger (Canal Winchester, OH) tallied 32 assists. Byrd and Youse also had one solo block and four block assists each.
     Junior Kyli Ricker (Plain City, OH) had 11 digs for the RedStorm, while sophomore Jordan Brooks (Reynoldsburg, OH) had a solo block and five assists and freshman Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH) added four service aces.
     Jessica Swimm had 18 kills to pace IU East, while Lepper and Teah Barrett Matthews finished with 12 and 11, respectively. Lepper also had a team-high three aces to go along with two solo blocks and two block assists.
     Reece Shirley led the Red Wolves with 45 assists and 13 digs, while also adding two solo blocks and a block assist. Kaydence Brewer had two solo blocks and four block assists of her own in the winning effort.
     IU East finished with 56 kills and 25 errors in 127 attacks for a .244 swing percentage.
     Friday's game marked the final contest in a RedStorm uniform for Youse, senior Kacie Trame (Toledo, OH) and junior Payton McBee (Chillicothe, OH).