Bears cruise past Rio women

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - After having a nine-game winning streak on Friday night, there was a great deal of interest in the University of Rio Grande's rebound effort on Saturday afternoon.
     Even moreso, given that long-time rival and River States Conference newcomer Shawnee State University was providing the opposition.
     But, as is the case more often than not, poking the bear doesn't always turn out well.
     Rio Grande had its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season and committed 45 combined errors as its guests cruised to a 3-0 (25-12, 25-23, 25-19) rout in women's volleyball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Shawnee State improved to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in RSC play with the victory.
     Rio Grande slipped to 10-5 overall and 4-2 in conference play with the loss.
     The RedStorm finished with just six more kills (36) than it had attack errors (30) in 114 swings for a .053 attack percentage - a figure topped only by a .050 percentage in a 3-0 loss at Milligan (Tenn.) University on Aug. 26.
     Rio also finished with a trio of service errors, 10 reception miscues and a pair of ball-handling errors.
     Shawnee State, on the other hand, finished with 30 kills and only nine errors in 88 swings for a .239 attack percentage.
     The Bears also had a big day at the net defensively, tallying three solo blocks and 16 block assists for 9.5 team blocks.
     Rio Grande trailed 9-8 in the opening set before a 6-0 Shawnee State put the Bears in control. The spurt was part of a 16-4 run to close the period.
     The RedStorm were also within 10-9 in the second stanza before another 6-0 run gave the guests a commanding lead.
     Rio did close the gap to just one point twice in the latter stages of the period, but a kill by Gretchen Chaney prevented the RedStorm from tying the score and a kill by Kylee Barney finished things off.
     Set three saw the home team rally from an early four-point deficit to take a 14-13 lead following an attack error by Chaney, but Shawnee State scored the next nine winners and never looked back en route to closing things out.
     Barney led the Bears with seven kills in the win, while Reagan Lewis and Makaela Lovely added 17 and 11 assists, respectively. Lovely and Ava Jenkins also had three service aces each.
     Jenkins topped SSU with eight digs, while Haidyn Wamsley had a pair of solo blocks to go along with four block assists.
     Senior Amanda Rarick (Canal Winchester, OH) and freshman Averie Bruce (Baltimore, OH) had eight kills each to lead Rio Grande, while freshman Regan Wilcoxon (Gallipolis, OH) and junior Avery Huntzinger (Canal Winchester, OH) finished with 18 and 16 assists, respectively.
     Junior Ashton Webb (Gallipolis, OH) had 13 digs in a losing cause for the RedStorm.
     Rio Grande failed to record a block of any kind until the final set and finished with just two block assists as a team.
     Rio Grande returns to action next Friday when it hosts Brescia University in another RSC matchup.
     First serve is set for 7 p.m.