RedStorm survives scare from Bears, advances in RSC tourney

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - For the University of Rio Grande women's volleyball team, the end result of Tuesday night's River States Conference quarterfinal round matchup with West Virginia University-Tech was the same as their regular season matchup just five days earlier.
     But the RedStorm's respective paths to victory couldn't have been more different.
     Last Thursday's 58-minute, straight sets victory over the Golden Bears was replaced by a five-set, 2-1/2-hour nail-biting marathon which included nearly 400 combined attacks and ended with a 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19, 18-16 Rio victory at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande, the No. 2 seed in the tourney, ran its record to 28-8 with a seventh straight win and advanced to Friday's semifinal round for a meeting with third-seeded Indiana University East in Kokomo, Ind.
     IU East ousted No. 6 seed Indiana University Southeast in straight sets in one of the other three quarterfinal matchups.
     Seventh-seeded WVU-Tech finished its season at 11-18 with the loss, but the Golden Bears proved to be a more-than-formidable foe.
     The visitors scored eight of the final points to win the opening set and then held off a late Rio rally to take the third set.
     Tech appeared primed to complete the upset effort in a back-and-forth fifth stanza after a RedStorm attack error gave the Golden Bears a 14-12 lead.
     Rio put down a pair of match point situations thanks to a kill by sophomore Kelli Stewart (Waverly, OH) and a Tech attack error, but the Bears gained a third opportunity to close things out when a Madison Boswell kill made it 15-14.
     The momentum swung in favor of the RedStorm moments later, though when a Tech attack error and a kill by Rio senior Jordan Brooks (Reynoldsburg, OH) put the home team a point away from victory.
     A kill by the Golden Bears' Ivana Burgos re-tied the set at 16-16 before consecutive kills by Brooks finally settled the issue once and for all.
     Rio Grande finished with 72 kills and 34 errors over 206 total swings for a .184 attack percentage.
     Senior Amanda Rarick (Canal Winchester, OH) led the RedStorm with a career-high 31 kills in her final home appearance, while Brooks tallied 17 kills of her own - including five in the decisive fifth set. Rarick also had 12 digs and Brooks had one solo block and five block assists.
     Stewart had 11 kills in the win, while junior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) had a career-high 61 assists to go along with 12 digs and three service aces.
     Junior Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH) had 24 digs for the RedStorm, while sophomore Jenna Harrison (Gallipolis, OH) had 23 of her own.
     WVU-Tech, which had 52 kills and 28 errors in its 185 attacks (.130), was led at the net by Boswell and Burgos, who tallied 21 and 17 kills, respectively.
     Marianna Oyola Rivera finished with 27 assists, 10 digs, four service aces and four block assists in the loss, while Anais Gonzalez had 19 assists and Brooke Presley finished with 23 digs.
     Peydon Smith had 16 digs of her own for the Golden Bears and Neveah Wooding tallied one solo block and eight block assists.
     Rio Grande's semifinal matchup with IU East on Friday is slated for a 4 p.m. start.
     Top-seeded Indiana University Kokomo will face No. 4 seed St. Mary-of-the-Woods in the other semifinal tilt at 7 p.m.
     Friday's semifinal winners will play in the championship match on Saturday.