Cougars top RedStorm in straight sets

Rio Grande Sports Information
     MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande played from behind for much of the night and suffered a 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-15) loss to host Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Tuesday night, in non-conference men's volleyball action at Ariel Arena.
     The Cougars won for the fourth time in five outings.
     Rio dropped to 2-5 with the loss.
     The RedStorm trailed 13-10 in the opening set before MVNU reeled off four straight winners to take a seven-point lead.
     Head coach Nick Rawls' squad got no closer than six points for the remainder of the period.
     Rio trailed for the majority of set two as well, although it did pull to within one - twice - in the latter stages of the set.
     A dual block by sophomore Griffin Smith (Trenton, OH) and sophomore Ethan Johnson (Hamilton, OH) on an attack by Mount Vernon's Spencer Stanley made it 22-21 and an attack error by Stanley four points later made it 24-23, but a service error on the subsequent point allowed the Cougars to take a commanding 2-0 match lead.
     The RedStorm managed five ties, but never led in set three.
     MVNU saw its lead sliced to 17-13 before scoring eight of the final 10 points to close out both the set and the match.
     Stanley finished with 10 kills to pace the Cougars, while Jaysen Matsumoto and Mikaja Dart tallied 13 and 10 assists, respectively.
     Daniel Skrzypchak added six digs to the winning effort, while Hayvin Larison was credited with four block assists.
     MVNU finished with 29 kills and 17 errors in 74 swings for a .162 attack percentage.
     Rio Grande had just as many kills as their hosts and only three more errors in five more attacks (.114), but the RedStorm also had 10 additional service errors (18-8).
     Sophomore Sam Kaylor (Lewis Center, OH) led Rio with 10 kills, while freshman Mitch Bartecki (New Lenox, IL) had 22 assists and sophomore Bobby Meifert (Bolingbrook, IL) had nine digs in a losing cause.
     Johnson finished with three block assists.
     Rio Grande returns to action on Thursday night in a tri-match hosted by the University of Charleston (WV). The RedStorm will face the host Golden Eagles and Wittenberg University.