Rio women end slide with rout of Eagles

Rio Grande Sports Information
     MIDWAY, Ky. - For the University of Rio Grande women's volleyball team, Saturday afternoon's matchup with Midway University was exactly what the doctor ordered.
     The RedStorm snapped a three-game losing slide, hammering the host Eagles over the final two sets en route to a 25-22, 25-14, 25-8 victory in River States Conference play at Marshall Gymnasium.
     Head coach Billina Cooper Donaldson's club improved to 21-10 overall and 9-4 in the RSC with the victory, maintaining a one-game lead over Indiana University East and a game-and-a-half edge over Shawnee State University in the RSC East Division in the process.
     Midway dropped to 1-20 overall and 0-13 against conference foes with the loss.
     The Eagles started well and found themselves tied at 10-all in the opening set following a kill by Ava Benner, but Rio Grande reeled off nine of the next 10 winners and was off and running.
     Midway led just 6-5 and 8-7 in set two and Rio Grande never trailed in the third and final set.
     The RedStorm, who rested a handful of its regulars, had a staggering .667 attack percentage (15 kills, 1 error, 21 swings) in the final stanza and finished the match at .312 (38 kills, 13 errors, 80 attacks).
     Rio also tallied a dozen service aces.
     The RedStorm were led by freshman Jozy Lougheed (Londonderry, OH) and junior Tia Cooper (Indianapolis, IN) with nine kills each, while sophomore Lydia Steyer (Perrysburg, OH) had 29 assists, nine digs, five aces and two block assists.
     Junior Jenna Harrison (Gallipolis, OH) also had nine digs in the victory, while senior Olivia Smith (Bainbridge, OH) had a solo block and two block assists.
     Midway finished with 21 kills and 19 errors in 77 total swings for a .026 percentage.
     Kayedon Mattingly led the Eagles with six kills to go along with a solo block and a block assist, while Paige Miles had nine assists, six digs and two service aces.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Friday when it hosts Kentucky Christian University in another RSC matchup at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     First serve is set for 7 p.m.