Slow start dooms RedStorm in NAIA tourney loss to Cougars

Rio Grande Sports Information
     MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - Perhaps it was the magnitude of the situation.
     Maybe it was the quality of the opponent.
     Truth be told, it was probably a little of both.
     Whatever the reason, a slow start in the program's national tournament debut was simply too much for the University of Rio Grande to overcome.
     Host Mount Vernon Nazarene University cruised to an opening set victory and rode the momentum the rest of the way, posting a 25-13, 25-19, 25-22 triumph over the RedStorm in the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship Opening Round, Saturday afternoon, at Ariel Arena.
     Head coach Billina Cooper Donaldson's Rio team finished its season at 26-13.
     No. 12-ranked and 11th-seeded Mount Vernon Nazarene improved to 26-8 with their second win over the RedStorm this season and advanced with 23 other opening round winners to the pool play portion of the tourney, which begins Dec. 2 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
     The Cougars hit a blistering .467 with 14 kills and no errors over 30 attacks in set one to set the tone of the afternoon.
     MVNU never trailed in the opening period and used a 7-0 run to rebound from an 8-6 deficit in set two and take a lead it would never relinquish en route to a commanding match advantage.
     Rio Grande rallied from a 15-10 deficit in set three to take a 17-16 advantage following a kill by junior Kelli Stewart (Waverly, OH) and still led 22-20 after another Stewart kill, but the Cougars finished things off once and for all with the final five winners of the day, punctuated by the third kill from Evelyn Brown in the match-ending spurt.
     MVNU finished the day with a .259 attack percentage after tallying 45 kills and 15 errors over 116 attacks.
     Brown and Morgan Schlabach had 11 kills each in the winning effort, while Brown had a solo block and three block assists and Schlabach had a trio of block assists.
     Regan Nuss tallied 33 assists and Jaelyn Tang recorded 22 digs for the Cougars. Schlabach also had 10 digs of her own.
     Rio Grande finished with 34 kills and 16 errors in 126 attacks for a .143 swing percentage.
     Senior Olivia Smith (Bainbridge, OH) led the RedStorm with nine kills, while fellow senior Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, OH) wrapped up a stellar two-year career after transferring into the program with 24 assists, three service aces and four block assists.
     Junior Jenna Harrison (Gallipolis, OH) and Smith finished with 15 and 12 digs, respectively, while junior Averie Bruce (Baltimore, OH) also had four block assists in the loss.