Rio Grande Sports Information
HUNTINGTON, Ind. - The University of Rio Grande women's volleyball team ran its season-opening winning streak to three straight before falling in the final match of the Forester Invitational, Saturday afternoon, at Huntington University's Platt Arena.
The RedStorm began the day with a 25-16, 25-20, 23-25, 25-16 triumph over Governor's State (Ill.) University before falling to the host Foresters 25-23, 25-11, 25-21 to close out the two-day tournament.
In the opener against GSU, Rio Grande finished strong in each of its three winning sets.
The RedStorm closed set one on a 10-3 run, posted a 7-3 spurt to end the second stanza and scored six of the final eight winners in the fourth set to close out the match.
Junior Nigella Reck (Covington, OH) led Rio at the net with 15 kills, while junior Kelli Stewart (Waverly, OH) and redshirt freshman Taylor Bartrum (Cherry Hill, KY) had 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Stewart also had a team-high 15 digs.
Senior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) tallied a match-best 46 assists to go along with 11 digs, while junior Jenna Harrison (Gallipolis, OH) had 14 digs of her own and junior Averie Bruce (Baltimore, OH) was credited with two solo blocks and three block assists.
Bartrum, Harrison and Reck also had three service aces each.
Trenyce Bonner led Governor's State with 12 kills, while Leticia Hermeto and Brooke Hallman had 15 and 12 assists, respectively.
Alejandra Maldonado added 16 digs in a losing cause for the Jaguars, while Jennifer Barwicka finished with a solo block and two block assists.
Against Huntington, the RedStorm had its worst hitting performance of the season thus far with 29 kills and 20 errors over 111 attacks for a .081 percentage.
The Foresters scored the final two winners to take the opening set before rolling through set two and scoring nine of the final 14 points in set three to close things out.
Maisyn Robrock led a balanced attack at the net for Huntington with nine kills, while Maggie Hollon and Haley Kruse had eight each.
Kennedy Urban and Amanda Ailes had 17 and 16 assists, respectively, while Layla Meyer had 17 digs. Robrock also had a solo block and two block assists.
Bartrum led Rio with 10 kills, while McLoughlin totaled 26 assists and Harrison had 18 digs. McLoughlin also had a pair of solo blocks.
Rio Grande returns to action on Friday when it faces Defiance College as part of the OnSet Invitational in Fort Wayne, Ind.
