Rio Grande Sports Information
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The University of Rio Grande suffered a pair of straight sets losses on Saturday, dropping contests to both Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) College and defending national champion Indiana Wesleyan University in a conference crossover event hosted at Indiana Tech University's Turnstone Center.
The RedStorm dropped a 25-14, 25-21, 25-20 decision to Lindsey Wilson before falling to the 8th-ranked Wildcats 25-11, 25-17, 25-18.
The losses left head coach Billina Donaldson's squad at 16-7 for the season.
Against Lindsey Wilson, Rio appeared primed to rebound from the opening set loss, taking a 14-3 lead in set two.
The advantage stood a 21-9 after a kill by Jordan Brooks, but the Blue Raiders roared to life and closed the set on a 16-1 run to take a commanding lead.
Lindsey Wilson (17-5) also scored seven of the first eight points in set three and never trailed en route to closing out the contest.
The Blue Raiders finished with a .298 attack percentage for the match, tallying 42 kills and just 11 errors over 104 swings.
Elisa Burzio had 10 kills to pace LWC, while Luiza Goncalves had 29 assists and three of her team's 12 service aces.
Autumn McCutchen had 16 digs in the winning effort, while Ola Wyrzykowska had 12 digs and four aces and Elizabeth Moore added a solo block and two block assists.
Sophomore Kelli Stewart (Waverly, OH) led Rio Grande with 10 kills, while junior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) had 27 assists and senior Amanda Rarick (Canal Winchester, OH) totaled 12 digs.
Sophomore McKenna Diederich (Pickerington, OH) also had three block assists in the loss.
In the final match of the day against Indiana Wesleyan, Rio Grande had more attack errors (11) than it had kills (10) over the first two sets and finished with a .079 swing percentage (22 kills, 14 errors, 101 attacks).
Rio's only leads during the first two stanzas came at 1-0 and 2-1 of set one, while the RedStorm's last advantage in set three came at 5-3.
IWU (18-2) had 43 kills and 12 errors over 113 swings for a .274 attack percentage.
Marissa Mullins and Eva Joldersma had 11 kills each to lead the Wildcats, while Abbigail Porter had 31 assists and Cadee Notter finished with 20 digs.
Joldersma also had 10 digs in the win, while Camaya Murry had four of IWU's 11 service aces.
Stewart and Rarick had seven kills each in the loss for the RedStorm, while McLoughlin had 17 assists and junior Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH) had 17 digs.
Rio Grande is back in action on Friday night when it entertains Indiana University Southeast for a 7 p.m. first serve at the Newt Oliver Arena.
