Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - It's not often that you'll find any University of Rio Grande athletic team rooting for their rivals from Shawnee State University.
But that's exactly the situation that the RedStorm women's volleyball team found themselves in after completing a perfect run in the Emileigh Cooper Memorial Classic, Saturday afternoon, at the Newt Oliver Arena.
After posting a 25-16, 23-25, 25-13, 25-21 over Defiance College and a sweep of Ohio Christian University by scores 25-16, 25-16, 25-13, head coach Billina Cooper Donaldson's club finished the weekend at 4-0 and improved to 8-3 for the season.
But despite their perfect finish, the RedStorm appeared ticketed to lose the chance to refer to themselves as champions with Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) College also sporting a perfect record - and the tiebreaker with Rio - heading into their final match with Shawnee State.
The Bears flipped the script, though, rallying from two sets down to defeat the Blue Raiders in five and give the event hosts the crown.
Sophomore Kelli Stewart (Waverly, OH) and senior Jordan Brooks (Reynoldsburg, OH) led the way along the net against Defiance, combining for 25 kills and just five errors in 42 swings.
Stewart had a team-high 13 kills, while Brooks added a dozen of her own to go along with eight block assists.
Senior Amanda Rarick (Canal Winchester, OH) also had 12 kills, while junior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) had 42 assists to go along with a solo block and six block assists.
Junior Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH) and sophomore Jenna Harrison (Gallipolis, OH) had 15 and 11 digs, respectively, while Harrison also had three service aces.
As a team, the RedStorm finished with a .213 swing percentage (52 kills, 26 errors, 122 attacks).
Defiance had one more error (31) than it did kills (30) in 125 attacks for a -.008 swing percentage.
Jamia Murray had eight kills to lead the Yellow Jackets, while Amina Chamoun had 17 assists and Kaylee Dickinson finished with 10 digs.
Jaelyn Tomoletz had three service aces to go along with a solo block and two block assists in the loss.
Rio Grande also dominated the net in the win over Ohio Christian.
The RedStorm had 36 kills and 18 errors in 100 swings for a .180 attack percentage, while the Trailblazers finished with a -.044 swing mark after tallying 22 kills and only 18 kills in 91 attacks.
Stewart led Rio with nine kills, while McLoughlin had 28 assists and three block assists and Harrison had 14 digs.
Brooks added four block assists in the victory.
Kennedy Bowling and Emilia Hoppe had five kills each to lead OCU, while Emma Hannah had nine assists and two service aces.
Sophie Coleman had 10 digs for the Trailblazers.
Rio Grande is slated to return to action next Friday as part of Indiana Tech's Liz Lykowski Memorial Tournament in Fort Wayne, Ind.
The RedStorm will face Indiana University Northwest at 4 p.m. before battling Lourdes University at 6 p.m.
