RedStorm needs five sets to dispatch Asbury

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - In the beginning, it looked easy.
     In the end, it was anything but.
     The University of Rio Grande bolted to a commanding lead, but was forced to survive a fifth and deciding set in a 3-2 win over Asbury University, Tuesday night, in non-conference women's volleyball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     The RedStorm, who earned the victory by scores of 25-10, 25-19, 19-25, 23-25, 15-11, pushed its season mark to 14-8.
     Asbury, a former regular on the Rio schedule before it left the NAIA for NCAA Division III following the 2020-21 school year, dropped to 9-11 with the loss.
     The Eagles had as many attack errors than they did kills (17) in the first two sets as Rio Grande stormed to a lopsided match lead.
     Asbury's struggles continued in the third set as well with more attack errors (6) than kills (5), but the RedStorm helped fuel the visitors' comeback hopes by committing 21 attack errors against 20 kills in sets three and four to force the final stanza.
     Set four was particularly painful for the home team.
     Rio Grande raced to a 9-3 lead to begin the period and still led 11-5 when the Eagles went on an 11-1 run to take a 16-12 cushion.
     The RedStorm rebounded with nine of the next 10 points, capped by consecutive kills by Bruce, to regain a 21-17 edge, but Asbury recorded eight of the final 10 winners in the stanza, including Ariana Bluestein's set-ending kill, to force the deciding set.
     Rio Grande opened up a commanding 10-4 advantage in set five, but the Eagles refused to go away quietly yet again and closed the deficit to 13-11 after a ball handling error on the RedStorm.
     Rio finally sealed the win, though, by scoring each of the next two winners on kills by freshman Averie Bruce (Baltimore, OH) and junior Jordan Brooks (Reynoldsburg, OH), respectively.
     The RedStorm finished with 49 kills and 28 errors in 155 swings for a .135 attack percentage.
     Asbury tallied 40 kills and 35 errors over 171 attacks for a .029 swing percentage.
     Brooks finished with a match-best 13 kills in the win for Rio, while also adding a solo block and seven block assists on defense. Bruce added 12 kills of her own.
     Junior Sofia Otero Marrero (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) finished with 26 assists and 14 digs for the RedStorm, while freshman Regan Wilcoxon (Gallipolis, OH) had 17 assists and 12 digs of her own.
     Junior Ashton Webb (Gallipolis, OH) and sophomore Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH) also had 15 and 14 digs, respectively, while freshman Anne Murphy (Fayetteville, OH) had four block assists and freshman Jenna Harrison (Gallipolis, OH) had three service aces.
     Emma Grace Gray had 12 kills and 17 digs in the loss for Asbury, while Lucy Kate Gray had 31 assists and Riley McChord had a match-high 24 digs.
     Bluestein also had 12 digs and McKenna Rumage finished with three service aces for the Eagles.
     Rio Grande continues its week-long homestand on Friday night when it hosts St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in a River States Conference tilt.
     First serve is set for 7 p.m.