Red Wolves end RedStorm's win streak

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RICHMOND, Ind. - Although it happened late in the opening stanza of Tuesday night's River States Conference tilt with Indiana University East, it was a gut-punch that the University of Rio Grande failed to recover from.
     The RedStorm coughed up a late lead in the first set and went on to drop a 25-23, 25-14, 23-25, 25-18 decision to the host Red Wolves at Lingle Court in the RSC Women's Volleyball Match of the Week.
     Rio Grande, which had a four-game win streak snapped, dropped to 15-5 overall and 4-1 in conference play with the loss.
     IU East avenged an earlier loss to the RedStorm, improving to 14-7 overall and 3-2 in the RSC with a fourth consecutive victory.
     The Red Wolves removed the wind from Rio's sails by rallying from a 22-20 deficit in set one.
     Four straight IUE winners gave the hosts a set point, which the RedStorm survived as a result of a service error, but a kill by Reece Shirley - who missed the first matchup between the two teams due to injury - on the subsequent point gave the Red Wolves an early match lead.
     Rio enjoyed a 10-9 lead in set two following a kill by senior Amanda Rarick (Canal Winchester, OH), but IU East countered with 12 of the next 14 winners en route to taking the set and control of the match.
     The RedStorm did show signs of life by rallying from deficits of 19-13 and 23-21 to take set three, but the Red Wolves parlayed a 5-0 run in set four to take a 21-15 lead and, eventually, finish off the match.
     East finished with 56 kills and 26 errors in 152 swings for a .197 attack percentage.
     Sheridan Phillips topped the hosts with 17 kills, while Shirley finished with an outstanding all-around performance of 14 kills, 23 assists, 12 digs and three block assists.
     Aislyn Hogan also had 23 assists for the Red Wolves, while Summer Hendershot had 14 digs and four of her team's 11 service aces in the victory.
     Ella Bickell had 26 digs to lead IUE, while Amyra Lockett had two solo blocks and six block assists.
     Rio Grande closed with a .186 attack percentage (44 kills, 18 errors, 140 attacks) as a team.
     Rarick and freshman Katelynn Coey (Glouster, OH) finished with 13 and 10 kills, respectively, for the RedStorm, while junior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) had 36 assists to go along with 36 assists, 12 digs and three block assists.
     Sophomore Jenna Harrison (Gallipolis, OH) also had 12 digs in the loss, while junior Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH) finished with 11.
     Rio Grande returns to action Friday night when it opens a three-match weekend road swing at Midway University.
     First serve is set for 7 p.m. at Marshall Gymnasium.
     The RedStorm will then venture on to Fort Wayne, Ind. to face Lindsey Wilson and No. 8 Indiana Wesleyan, the defending national champion - on Saturday afternoon at Indiana Tech University.