RedStorm erases early deficit, routs WVU Tech

Rio Grande Sports Information
     BECKLEY, W.Va. - The University of Rio Grande spotted host West Virginia University Tech an early match lead before storming back to post a 26-28, 25-18, 25-13, 25-15 win over the Golden Bears, Friday night, in River States Conference women's volleyball action at Van Meter Gymnasium.
     The RedStorm improved to 20-7 overall and 8-1 in league play with the win.
     WVU-Tech fell to 10-12 overall and 6-4 in the RSC.
     The Golden Bears survived a trio of set point opportunities for Rio Grande in the opening stanza, scoring four of the final five winners in the period to grab the early lead. Consecutive kills by Emily Stack culminated the short scoring spurt.
     From that point on, though, most of the night belonged to the RedStorm.
     Head coach Billina Donaldson' squad never trailed in set two and its only deficit in the third set came at 1-0.
     Tech led as late as 9-8 in the fourth set, but a kill by senior Amanda Rarick (Canal Winchester, OH) tied the game and the Golden Bears never led again.
     The hosts did forge ties at 10-, 11- and 12-all, but Rio Grande went on a 12-0 run after the final deadlock to settle the issue once and for all.
     The RedStorm finished with a .209 attack percentage, tallying 53 kills and 20 errors over 158 swings.
     Rarick finished with a season-high 22 kills in the winning effort, while junior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) had 44 assists, 14 digs and four solo blocks.
     Junior Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH) led Rio with 19 digs, while senior Sofia Otero Marrero (Vega Baja, P.R.) added 15 of her own and senior Jordan Brooks (Reynoldsburg, OH) had five solo blocks.
     Otero Marrero and sophomore McKenna Diederich (Pickerington, OH) also had three service aces each.
     Ivana Burgos and Madison Boswell had 16 and 12 kills, respectively, to lead WVU-Tech.
     The Golden Bears hit just .071 as a team, totaling 47 kills and 35 attack errors over 169 swings.
     Marianna Oyola Rivera had 23 assists, 13 digs, a solo block and two block assists for Tech, while Brooke Presley had 29 digs, Anais Gonzalez had 15 assists and Nevaeh Wooding had two solo blocks and a block assist.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Saturday afternoon at Alice Lloyd College.
     First serve is set for 2 p.m. in Pippa Passes, Ky.