RedStorm outlasts Grenadiers in five sets

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - On a night when the University of Rio Grande and Indiana University Southeast seemingly traded punches from the outset, it was the RedStorm that was able to deliver a final deciding blow.
     Head coach Billina Donaldson's squad scored the first four points of the fifth and deciding set and never trailed down the stretch en route to a 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-10) victory over the Grenadiers, Friday night, in River States Conference women's volleyball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande, who had dropped three of its previous four outings, improved to 17-7 overall and 6-1 in the RSC with the victory.
     IU Southeast slipped to 6-13 overall and 5-3 in league play as a result of the loss.
     After a back-and-forth roller-coaster affair through the first four stanzas, the RedStorm turned a pair of attack errors by the Grenadiers, a service ace by sophomore Jenna Harrison (Gallipolis, OH) and a kill by senior Amanda Rarick (Canal Winchester, OH) into its quick set five start.
     IU Southeast used a pair of Rio attack errors to slice the deficit in half, but the RedStorm responded with six of the next eight winners to grab a 10-4 advantage.
     The Grenadiers managed to close the gap to 13-10, but kills by sophomore Kelli Stewart (Waverly, OH) and freshman Katelynn Coey (Glouster, OH) closed out the match win.
     Rio Grande finished with a .224 attack percentage, tallying 64 kills and 27 errors over 165 swings.
     Stewart and sophomore McKenna Diederich (Pickerington, OH) led the RedStorm with 14 kills each, while Rarick and Coey had 13 kills each. Rarick also finished with 12 digs.
     Junior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) finished with a season-high 56 assists to go along with 11 digs and three service aces.
     Junior Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH) had 26 digs in the winning effort, while senior Jordan Brooks (Reynoldsburg, OH) was credited with two solo blocks and a pair of block assists.
     IU Southeast was led by Ella Brooks, who had 18 kills, 14 digs and a trio of block assists.
     Madison Ramsey had 10 kills and five block assists for the Grenadiers, while Carly Mason and Kacy Hornish totaled 26 and 19 assists, respectively. Mason also had 11 digs.
     Ella Davidson had 13 digs in a losing cause, while Haley Jester had six block assists.
     Rio Grande will return to action on Saturday when its hosts a tri-match that includes Indiana University Columbus and Ohio Christian University.
     Rio and IUC start the day with their RSC matchup at noon, with IUC and OCU squaring off at approximately 2:30 p.m.
     The RedStorm will finish out the day against Ohio Christian at approximately 5 p.m.