ELYRIA, Ohio -- Rocky River snapped a four-match losing streak by defeating Elyria Catholic, 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-22), in Tuesday night Great Lakes Conference West Division action.

The Pirate road triumph halts the program's longest losing streak since Oct. 10-19, 2015. Rocky River hit .275 in the match, its second-highest mark of the season (.300 vs. Buckeye, Sept. 2), en route to its fifth shutout of the fall.

"We were aggressive at the net," said head coach Brittany Morris, "More so than we had been in recent matches."

That front-court aggressiveness netted eight total blocks in the contest against the Panthers. Freshman Ella Brokaw had two solo blocks and one block assist in leading the Pirate presence at the net. Brokaw also had four kills in the match.

Sophomore Samantha Young swung her way to a .358 average on 19 kills. Young, who also had three aces and 10 digs on the night, has now averaged a robust 6.9 kills per set over her last three matches.

Senior Megan Lally logged seven kills without an error. Lally hit .538 in 13 attempts. Junior Madie Shoaf hit .268 with nine kills.

The front court was set up by the fine work of senior Estella Giomini, who had a 37-assist, seven-dig evening. Giomini also clocked four aces. River had 4.0 aces per set, its most in a single match since Sept. 7 (4.0 versus North Olmsted).

Sophomore Maggie Pfahl led the back line with 17 digs. The Pirates were tagged with just 6.0 dig errors per set, their fewest in a single match since Sept. 7 (6.0 versus North Olmsted).

With Tuesday's road win, Rocky River (6-5, 3-2 GLC West) is now 8-1 against Elyria Catholic since 2017.

"We need to take this kind of aggressiveness up front into tomorrow's match and beyond," said Morris.

Rocky River will play at Vermillion on Wednesday and then continue a busy stretch of road matches with GLC West tilt at North Olmsted on Thursday.


by Skip Snow

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