RIO GRANDE, Oh.--- Sophomore Riley McChord's 24 digs and 12 Emma Grace Gray kills rallied Asbury (9-11) all the way to five sets before falling on Tuesday night at the University of Rio Grande (14-8). 

Rio Grande took the first two sets of the match and then Asbury responded in style with two straight wins to force a fifth set for the second year in a row in Rio Grande, Oh., with the Red Storm. 

McChord's 24 dig match is a season-high and her ninth time this season with 20-plus digs. She now has 589 career digs in a season and a half for AU. 

Gray's 12 kills marks her 13th double-digit kill match this season. She also had 17 digs for the third time this season. 

Macie Pack had nine kills while Mckenna Rumage had seven and three aces for Asbury. Lucy Kate Gray dished 31 assists and Ariana Bluestein was strong on defense with 12 digs. 

Asbury hit for only a .029 percentage while Rio hit at .135. The Eagles committed 35 errors in their comeback that was cut short while the Red Storm committed 28. 

The Eagles did lead the way in aces with Rumage (3) and Eve-Elyse Hall anjd Sidney Haysley each serving two. 

Set-by-Set Recap 

Set One
Rio Grande's offense took off in the first set with a 10-1 run that gave them an 18-6 advantage. AU was not able to recover as the Red Storm came out strong on their home court, 25-10. 

Set Two
In the second set Rio started out effective again offensivley, taking a 4-1 swing that put them up 14-8. This time Asbury answered with a Megan Walden kill and McKenna Rumage ace that fisnihed a 9-3 run to tie the set at 17-17. 

Rio bounced back to score eight of the next ten points, winning the second set, 25-19. 

Set Three
After Rio got up 8-3, the Eagles offense began to click as they went on a 13-6 run to take a 16-14 lead. A Lucy Kate Gray ace and Megan Walden killed continued the AU scoring attack as they took the third set, 25-19. 

Set Four
The fourth set was the closest of the night as AU came all the way back from being down 5-11 to go up 16-12 from an 11-1 run, their largest of the evening. 

Rio answered right back with a 9-1 swing to go ahead 21-17. With their back against the wall AU eight of the next ten points to win the fourth, 25-23. 

Set Five
Rio took an early 5-2 lead off a four-point swing that the Eagles couldn't recover from, dropping the set 11-15 and the match after an impressive comeback. 

AU moves to 9-11 on the season after taking a talented Rio Grande team to five sets on their home court.


* Riley McChord | 24 Digs (Season-High)
* Emma Grace Gray | 12 Kills, 17 Digs
* Lucy Kate Gray | 31 Assists
* Macie Pack | 9 Kills, 4 Blocks
* McKenna Rumage | 3 Aces, 7 Kills
* Ariana Bluestein | 12 Kills


Asbury will return home on Friday for a matchup with Union College at 6 pm in the Luce Center. 


* Make sure to follow us @asburyeagles on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
* Watch our all TeamAU home games live at Asbury Sports Digital Network
* Use the links attached to the team schedules to watch live or follow live stats