Rio dances past Wolves

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - It wasn't exactly picturesque and it was anything but easy, but Friday night's River States Conference opener for the University of Rio Grande women's volleyball team ended as they hoped it would - with a win.
     Junior Kelli Stewart (Waverly, OH) had a match-best 10 kills, while senior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) tallied a match-high 28 assists and a team-high three block assists as the RedStorm posted a 25-21, 27-25, 25-22 triumph over Indiana University East at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande improved to 10-6 overall with a third consecutive victory.
     The visiting Red Wolves dropped to 7-11 with the loss.
     Neither team hit the ball particularly well in the grind-it-out affair.
     Rio Grande finished with 34 kills and 23 errors in 122 swings for a .090 attack percentage, while IU East had 33 kills and 30 errors in 124 attacks for a .024 percentage.
     The RedStorm twice watched a five-point lead in the opening set trimmed to one before scoring the final three winners in the period - two on attack errors by the guests - to grab an early match lead.
     IU East reeled off seven straight winners in set two to erase an early 5-2 Rio advantage, but the RedStorm rallied and never trailed again after a dual block by redshirt freshman Taylor Bartrum (Cherry Hill, KY) and junior Averie Bruce (Baltimore, OH) produced a 17-16 lead for the home team.
     The Red Wolves bounced back to tie the score at 22-, 24- and 25-all, but Rio notched the final two points of the stanza - one on a Bartrum kill and the other on an IUE attack error to take a commanding match lead.
     The RedStorm led just 9-8 in set three following a service error, but used a 10-4 run fueled by five IUE errors and two kills by Stewart to open up a 19-12 cushion.
The Red Wolves sliced the deficit in half and remained in rally mode before losing a point - and momentum - due to an illegal substitution.
     Rio Grande then wrapped up the match with an error by the Red Wolves and a kill by Bruce.
     Junior Jenna Harrison (Gallipolis, OH) added 16 digs and Bruce had three block assists of her own in the victory, while senior Olivia Smith (Bainbridge, OH) had three of Rio's six service aces.
     Elaina Wehrman and Noema Philistin-Lynch had eight kills each for IU East, while Aislyn Hogan had 22 assists and Abby Herman had 13 digs.
     Philistin-Lynch also had two blocks and two block assists in a losing cause.
     Rio Grande will look to keep its momentum going when it closes out the weekend homestand on Saturday against Midway University.
     First serve is set for 1 p.m.