Volleyball sweeps Day 1 of the Onset Invite, including 5-set win over #RV Rio Grande

(Fort Wayne, IN) - The Rochester Christian Warriors Women's Volleyball team started its 2025 season at the Onset Invitational on Friday for the first two of four games at the invite. RCU opened up against West Virginia Tech with a 3-0 win, before taking on #RV Rio Grande, which they would pull out a thrilling five-set win to start their young season 2-0.

MATCH 1: RCU 3, WVU TECH 0

The first set of the year went RCU's way as they picked up a 25-19 win to start the match against the Golden Bears. Mackenzie Keefer started the Warriors off on the right foot with three straight service aces for the early 3-0 lead. After the teams battled back and forth, RCU was able to rattle off a five-point run in the middle of the match for an 11-8 lead. RCU would continue to dominate in the set, forcing a WVU Tech timeout with the score 20-16, RCU. The Warriors closed out the set with a 5-3 run. 

Set two was a lot of the same action as both teams battled for the lead throughout the set, with Rochester Christian coming out on top, 25-23. Teams were tied at 7 following a Chante Hudgins kill, which sparked a 16-9 run for RCU to take a commanding 23-15 lead. Coming out of a WVU Tech timeout, the Golden Bears came out firing, scoring 8 straight points before a service error and a kill by Kendal Zeiter finished off the second set to lead 2-0. 

RCU finished off the sweep of the Golden Bears with a commanding 25-16 win. Kendal Zeiter started the set off with a kill to start a three-point run. The teams would ratlle off points back and forth until it was a 10-8 RCU lead. Hannah Maynard aided the 16-8 run to close out the set with a service ace in the middle of a four-point run and Madelyn Geisenhaver closed out the match with three serves, two of them being aces. 

Kendal Zeiter and Chante Hudgins led the team in the match with 11 and 10 kills respectively, while Mackenzie Keefer had 20 assists and Ashley horne tallied eight digs. 

MATCH 2: RCU 3, #RV RIO GRANDE 2

A tight first set went the way of the Red Storm as they claimed a 25-21 win. The two sides went back and forth throughout the full set, but Rio Grande held the narrow edge most of the way. A late five-point run gave the Red Storm the charge they needed to take the first set. 

RCU responded right away in the second set as they would come away with a 25-16 win. A pair of errors from Rio aided Rochester Christian to jumping out to a 19-8 lead with Madelyn Giesenhave serving four of the points. Following a Rio timeout they were able to put together a mini-rally scoring eight of 12 points, but kills from Hailee Mancogna, Liljana Margiljaj and Kourtney Mack closed out the second set. 

The third set was another nailbitter with Rio Grande surviving with a 25-20 win. Following a 11-10 lead after a Kourtney Mack kill, the Red Stormscored nine straight points to widened the lead. RCU attempted a late comeback with multiple kills from Chante Hudgins as they scored 10 of the final 15 points but the comeback was too late. 

The fourth set went the way of the Warriors as they were able to force the fifth set with a 25-19 win. A kill from Liljana Margiljaj and Hailee Mancogna started the scoring for the Warriors in yet another closely battled match. Rio tied the game up at 9 points apiece and a couple of Red Storm errors gave RCU a boost. Alivia Everitt tallied a couple of kills within the final 16 RCU points, as well as Mackenzie Keefer recording her first kill of the match to end the fourth set. 

The tight match continued all the way to the end of the final set where RCU was able to leave with a 18-16 win. The Warriors were again able to take advantage of multiple Rio errors to jump out to a 6-3 run. The two team discontinued to trade points with Alivia Everitt, Hailee Mancogna and Chante Hudgins continuing to finish their attacks. Hudgins and Kourtney Mack tallied the final two points as RCU scored the final three for the 18-16 victory. 

TOP PERFORMERS

Chante Hudgins and Hailee Mancogna led the team in the offensive department with 21 and 19 kills, respectively on the day. Mackenzie Keefer and Emma Hock were the top two assisters with 48 and 31 each. 

Ashley Horne, Madelyn Giesenhaver and Keefer were top on the team with 21, 19, and 19 digs respectively. Hudgins led the blocking edge with 12  total blocks (4 solo and 8 assisted). 

UP NEXT

The Warriors continue to play at the Onset Invitational tomorrow with their final pair of games as they take on Bryan (TN) and Spring Arbor at 11 AM and 3:30 PM, respectively.