GRENADIERS DEFEAT RIO GRANDE SATURDAY

NEW ALBANY, Ind. – The IU Southeast volleyball team defeated Rio Grande 25-15, 25-15, 14-25, 27-25 on Saturday to move to 2-0 on their current five-match homestand.

Emilee Organ led IU Southeast with 16 kills, Macy Graves had 10 and Maggie Purichia added eight.

IU Southeast (10-8, 6-2 RSC) led for the majority of the first set. The Grenadiers used an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 17-7. The Grenadiers scored in a variety of ways during the run, including kills by Graves, Purichia and Organ. Averee Yoder added an ace as IU Southeast looked to pull away. 

Rio Grande (5-11, 3-5 RSC) cut the lead to seven, but could not pull any closer as IU Southeast took the first set 25-15. The Grenadiers were balanced in the first set, scoring on kills by seven different players. Organ led the way in the first set with five kills, and Graves added three. Yoder and Brandy Eisenback each added an ace.

The second set began tightly contested as both teams traded points. IU Southeast used a 6-0 run to take a 12-7 lead. Four attack errors from the RedStorm, an ace by Hannah Brown and a kill by Graves sparked the run. The Grenadiers remained in the lead for the rest of the set as a 5-0 run propelled them to a 25-15 victory in the second set. IU Southeast used kills from four different Grenadiers during the 5-0 stretch to propel them to the set victory.

IU Southeast was well balanced in the second set as well. Eight different Grenadiers added a kill and Brown served up an ace to give IU Southeast a 2-0 set lead.

The RedStorm jumped out to a quick 10-3 lead in the third set and never looked back, taking the set by a score of 25-14. Fisher and Brown both had an ace in the set for the Grenadiers.

A quick 10-2 run gave the Grenadiers an early lead in the fourth set. Rio Grande slowly fought back, narrowing the Grenadiers lead to just one at 18-17. IU Southeast extended their lead with a 5-1 run, but the RedStorm answered with a 5-0 run of their own to tie the set at 23-23. After several back-and-forth points, IU Southeast capitalized on their third match point to take the fourth set 27-25 and the match 3-1.

IU Southeast had nine aces in the match. Jennie Malone, Brown, Eisenback and Fisher had two aces apiece and Yoder added one. Brown led the Grenadiers with 23 assists, and Eisenback added 17. Maggie Purichia had 3.5 blocks for the Grenadiers.

IU Southeast hosts Midway on Tuesday at 7 p.m.