RedStorm survives slow start, roars back to bounce Bears

Rio Grande Sports Information
     PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - After suffering a straight sets loss at home to Shawnee State University last month, the University of Rio Grande appeared ticketed for the same fate on Saturday afternoon on the Bears' home court.
     But the RedStorm finally received their wakeup call after dropping the first two sets to their rivals and a dramatic rally ensued.
     Rio limited its host to just 29 points over the next two sets combined and then rescued victory from the jaws of defeat with a late rally in the fifth and deciding stanza for an 18-25, 19-25, 25-14, 25-15, 16-14 win in River States Conference play at the Frank & Janis Waller Gymnasium.
     The RedStorm improved to 16-10 overall and 9-7 in league play with the victory.
     Shawnee State slipped to 14-10 overall and 9-7 against RSC foes with the loss.
     The Bears bolted to their big early match lead, leading by as many as 11 points late in set one and scoring the final six winners to snap a 19-all deadlock in the second period.
     The next two stanzas were all Rio, though.
     The RedStorm scored the final seven points of set three to pull away for a double-digit triumph and then were never headed after jumping to a 5-0 lead in the fourth set.
     Shawnee State used a 4-0 run to erase a 5-4 deficit in the fifth period and held a commanding 13-9 advantage after a Rio service error.
     The RedStorm scored the next three winners to close the deficit to one but, after a timeout by the Bears, faced match point after a kill by SSU's Wylie Shipley gave the home team a 14-12 lead.
     But Rio mounted one more comeback effort, getting consecutive kills by junior Jordan Brooks (Reynoldsburg, OH) and senior Amanda Rarick (Canal Winchester, OH) to tie the game and consecutive Shawnee attack errors to capture both the set and the match.
     The RedStorm finished with 57 kills and 26 errors in 161 total swings for a .193 attack percentage, while the Bears had 50 kills and 21 errors in 155 attacks for a .187 swing percentage.
     Freshman Averie Bruce (Baltimore, OH) led a quartet of double-digit kill performances for Rio Grande with 14.
     Fellow frosh Kelli Stewart (Waverly, OH) finished with 12 kills for the RedStorm, while Rarick and Brooks tallied 11 and 10, respectively. Rarick also had one solo block and three block assists.
     Juniors Avery Huntzinger (Canal Winchester, OH) and Sofia Otero Marrero (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) had 30 and 17 assists, respectively, while both had three service aces in the winning effort.
     Junior Ashton Webb (Gallipolis, OH) contributed 30 digs for the RedStorm, while Otero Marrero had 15 of her own and freshman McKenna Diedrich (Pickerington, OH) also had three block assists.
     Kylee Barney and Bethany Colling had 15 and 10 kills, respectively, for Shawnee State, while Reagan Lewis and Marleigh Albert had 25 and 16 assists, respectively.
     Makenna Lovely had a team-best 21 digs for the Bears, while Megan Steele had 14 and the duo of Lewis and Gretchen Chaney had 11 digs each.
     Haidyn Wamsley had two solo blocks and one block assist for SSU.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Tuesday night at Ohio Christian University.
     First serve is set for 7 p.m. at the Maxwell Center.