Rio women earn first-ever national tourney berth

Rio Grande Sports Information
     KOKOMO, Ind. - For the first time in school history, the University of Rio Grande women's volleyball team is heading to the NAIA National Tournament.
     The RedStorm finished the fifth and deciding set on a 10-1 run, including each of the final six winners, to upend St. Mary-of-the-Woods College 25-18, 23-25, 27-25, 11-25, 15-6 in the semifinal round of the River States Conference Championship, Friday afternoon, at the Student Activities & Events Center.
     The victory - coupled with 15th-ranked and top-seeded Indiana University Kokomo's 3-0 win over No. 4 seed Indiana University Southeast in Friday's other semifinal - sends the third-seeded RedStorm into Saturday's tournament title game against the host Cougars.
     The win also punched the ticket for head coach Billina Cooper Donaldson's squad to national tournament play for the first time in school history.
     With IU Kokomo already owning the league's first automatic bid to national play as its regular season champion, Rio Grande is guaranteed a national bid regardless of what happens on Saturday - as either the tournament champion or as its runner-up, because an IUK win would mean the regular season champ and tourney titlist would be one in the same.
     Rio Grande (26-11) used a 9-0 run in set three to erase a 12-10 deficit, but coughed up a 23-20 lead and two blow set point opportunities before taking a commanding match lead.
     The momentum was short-lived, though, as the second-seeded Pomeroys (30-6) stormed their way to an easy set four victory to force the winner-take-all fifth stanza.
     Set five was tied at 5-5 after a kill by SMWC's Masa Pesic, but a subsequent service error by Pesic gave the RedStorm a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
     The error started a 4-0 Rio run and, after a brief break in momentum following a kill by the Pomeroys' Sofia Soto, the RedStorm reeled off the final six winners - including a pair of kills by redshirt freshman Taylor Bartrum (Catlettsburg, KY) - to seal the victory.
     Rio Grande finished with a .251 attack percentage for the match with 59 kills and 16 errors in 171 swings.
     Junior Kelli Stewart (Waverly, OH) had 18 kills and 10 digs to lead the RedStorm, while Bartrum had 17 kills, 18 digs and three block assists.
     Junior Averie Bruce (Baltimore, OH) had 12 kills and three block assists of her own, while senior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) had 40 assists, three block assists and three service aces.
     Senior Olivia Smith (Bainbridge, OH) also had four block assists in the winning effort.
     SMWC had 59 kills and 25 errors in 165 swings as a team for a .206 attack percentage.
     Pesic had 19 kills, three aces and two block assists for the Pomeroys, while Karla Melendez had 18 kills, 14 digs and three service aces and Lisanel Rodriguez finished with 11 kills.
     Aden Britt had 41 assists and 12 digs in the loss, while Leishmarie Virella had 24 digs, Danielle Zvonar tallied 12 digs and Alexa Stiff recorded six service aces.
     Saturday's championship first serve is set for 1 p.m.