October 10, 2009

RedStorm fall short against Walsh

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm volleyball team is improving, but they have not arrived just yet. The RedStorm gave visiting Walsh all it wanted on Saturday morning at the Newt Oliver Arena, extending the hard fought match to four games before losing, 19-25, 17-25, 25-21, 21-25. 

Junior middle blocker Rachel Walker (Ironton, OH) was also a force at the net, tallying five block assists for the match and junior middle hitter Kati Moore (Lancaster, OH) registered two solo blocks and two block assists.

Junior libero Jacquie Whittle (Chillicothe, OH) paced the defensive effort for the RedStorm with 19 digs while sophomore defensive specialist Kristen Cassady (Logan, OH) reached double figures in digs as well with 12.

Junior setter Ashley Bloom (Columbus, OH) handed out 17 assists and freshman setter Micah Motes (Chillicothe, OH) chipped in with 11 assists.

Despite the loss, Rio Grande head coach Billina Donaldson was pleased to see the improvement in her team. "What we worked on all week was the fact that we haven't improved all year, we have not improved since our first game and that's what we worked on all week," Donaldson said. "Let's just go into this game with the mentality that we're going to come out of it as a better team."

"Let's play a great team and become a better team ourselves," Donaldson added. "I think we gave Walsh all they wanted. We really fought them every point."

"We looked good, I thought we looked really good, Donaldson said. "Walsh is an unbelievable team, had we had a little more experience against teams like that, I think we would have probably given them more."

Walsh (20-2), winners of 16 of its last 17 matches, did what they had to do to fend off a spirited charge by the RedStorm. "We changed their game tremendously with Kati Moore and Erin Sherman, Rachel Walker and (Ashley) Belknap and Whitney Smith even had a few blocks," Donaldson said. "Our block was in their face all morning and they had to change their game."

"Our defense stepped up and our blocking was unbelievable and I have been saying this, since my recruiting, we're going to be some of the best blockers in the nation and today we definitely were," Donaldson added. 

Rio Grande returns to Mid-South Conference play on Tuesday (October 13) at WVU Tech. The match is set to start at 6 p.m. Rio Grande defeated the Golden Bears at home on September 16 in straight sets, 25-11, 25-6 and 25-14.

With the win in September, Rio Grande is now 6-0 all-time versus WVU Tech.