URG volleyball defeats Ohio Christian University
RIO GRANDE, Ohio – The University of Rio Grande nearly led from start to finish and cruised to a straight sets win over Ohio Christian University, Tuesday night, in River States Conference volleyball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
The RedStorm, who won for an eighth straight time overall and the seventh consecutive time in league play, took down the visiting Trailblazers by scores of 25-17, 25-20, 25-20.
Head coach Billina Donaldson’s squad improved to 17-10 overall and 7-3 inside the RSC, while also maintaining the distinction of being the only team in the league with a perfect record at home (8-0).
Ohio Christian suffered a 10th straight loss, falling to 6-22 overall and 0-10 in league play.
Rio Grande, which had just nine attack errors in 114 trips to the net, finished with a .281 attack percentage and never trailed in sets one and three.
The Trailblazers did lead early in set two and trailed just 21-20 late in the stanza, but the RedStorm tallied the final four points of the set en route to the sweep.
Senior Autumn Snider (Marion, OH) had a match-high 12 kills to lead Rio, while fellow seniors Kayla Briley (Marion, OH) and Chandler Brown (Stockdale, OH) had 31 assists and 15 digs, respectively.
Junior Aleah Pelphrey (Piketon, OH) added 12 digs of her own in the winning effort, while junior Kylan Straughsbaugh (Kingston, OH) had two service aces and freshman Rachael Gilkey (Nelsonville, OH) recorded four blocks.
Lexi Jacobs had nine kills to pace OCU in the loss, while Katie Bush had 17 assists and Karee Neff had 16 digs. Kiara Rohrer also had 13 digs for the Trailblazers and Cayla Allen finished with two solo blocks and two block assists.
Rio Grande returns to action Thursday night, traveling to rival Shawnee State University for a 7 p.m. first serve at the Frank and Janis Waller Gymnasium.
