Magical season for Rio women ends in RSC semifinals

Rio Grande Sports Information
     KOKOMO, Ind. - Just one win shy from the program's first-ever trip to the NAIA national tournament, midnight finally struck on the University of Rio Grande's Cinderella season.
     The second-seeded RedStorm suffered a 25-19, 28-26, 25-21 loss to No. 3 seed Indiana University East in the semifinal round of the River States Conference Women's Volleyball Championship, Friday evening, at Indiana University Kokomo's Student Activities and Events Center.
     Rio Grande, which had a seven-match winning streak snapped, finished its season at 28-9 with the loss. The 28 wins represent the most in any season since a 37-9 finish in 1992, when the then-Redwomen were led by current Rio head coach Billina Cooper Donaldson.
     IU East, which split its regular season meetings with the RedStorm, improved to 26-9 with the victory and will face top-seeded and 11th-ranked IU Kokomo - which bounced No. 4 seed St. Mary-of-the-Woods in the other semifinal match - in Saturday's title game.
     Since the host Cougars had already earned the RSC's automatic qualifier to the national tourney as the regular season champion, IU East claimed the second qualifier regardless of the outcome in Saturday's championship match.
     The only leads for Rio Grande in set one came at 1-0 and 2-1, but the RedStorm found themselves enjoying an advantage late in the second period after a kill by senior Amanda Rarick (Canal Winchester, OH) made it 18-13.
     But the hopes of closing out the set and evening up the match score went down in flames shortly thereafter.
     The Red Wolves reeled off seven of the next nine winners to grab a 22-20 lead before Rio mounted its own comeback, beating down two IUE set point chances and taking a 26-25 advantage - earning a set point of its own in the process - after Rarick blocked an attack by East's Tia Cooper.
     However, a subsequent service error by the RedStorm knotted the score at 26-all and the Red Wolves closed out the set with a Rio attack error and a service ace by Aislyn Hogan to take a commanding match lead.
     IU East raced to a 7-2 lead at the outset of set three, but Rio Grande fought back to score seven consecutive winners and grab a 9-7 edge.
     The RedStorm still had a 13-9 cushion after a dual block by senior Jordan Brooks (Reynoldsburg, OH) and freshman Katelynn Coey (Glouster, OH) of another attack by Cooper, but the Red Wolves scored the next four points to tie the score at 13-all.
     A kill by Coey on the next point temporarily gave Rio the lead back, but a subsequent kill by IUE's Teah Barrett Matthews tied the game again and the RedStorm never managed to regain the advantage.
     Rio Grande hit just .023 in set one and .096 in set three and finished the match with a .113 swing percentage (39 kills, 25 errors, 124 attempts).
     Rarick and sophomore Kelli Stewart (Waverly, OH) had 10 kills each in a losing cause for the RedStorm, while junior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) had 29 assists and junior Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH) tallied 15 digs.
     Brooks also had four block assists for Rio.
     The Red Wolves had 37 kills and 19 errors over 114 attacks for a .158 swing percentage.
     Reece Shirley, who missed the regular season meeting at Rio Grande in which the RedStorm emerged victorious, had 10 kills, 12 assists, one solo block and four block assists in the win.
     Hogan had 19 assists and a pair of service aces, while Summer Hendershot had 13 digs, Abby Herman had two aces of her own and Lockett finished with four block assists.
     The loss marked the final match in the careers of Rarick and Brooks, along with fellow seniors Sofia Otero Marrero (Vega Baja, P.R.) and Avery Huntzinger (Canal Winchester, OH). Sedgwick, although a junior eligibility-wise, also played her final game.