Saints march past Rio men

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Thomas More University pulled away late in each of the first two sets before rallying from a six-point deficit in set three to post a 25-20, 25-21, 25-22 win over the University of Rio Grande, Tuesday night, in Mid-South Conference men's volleyball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     The Saints, who are in their final season as a member of the NAIA before heading to NCAA Division II, improved to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play with the win.
     Rio Grande dropped to 3-10 overall and 1-3 in the RSC.
     The RedStorm led 18-17 in set one following a kill by sophomore Sam Kaylor (Lewis Center, OH), but the visitors scored eight of the final 10 winners to grab an early match lead.
     Rio was directly responsible for seven of the Saints' final eight points with four attack errors and a trio of service errors.
     The RedStorm trailed just 21-20 in set two after a service ace by Seth Mohr, but again it was TMU which reeled off four of the final five points - including each of the last three - to take a 2-0 match lead.
     Rio Grande started set three strong, leading by as many as six points at 14-8 and by five at 19-14, but the RedStorm couldn't maintain their prosperity.
     A 6-0 spurt by the Saints later in the set gave the guests a 22-20 advantage and, despite twice getting back to within one - including 23-22 on the heels of a kill by Griffin Smith - TMU sealed the match with the final two points of the night.
     Thomas More hit .478 in the opening set (14 kills, three errors, 23 swings) and finished the match with a .352 attack percentage (44 kills, 13 errors, 88 attacks).
     Jacob Wehrman had 12 kills to lead the Saints, while Conner Young and Eli Chambers finished with 22 and 16 assists, respectively. Wehrman also had five block assists.
     Jonathan Litzler and Ben Albers tallied 12 and 10 digs, respectively.
     Rio Grande finished with a .211 attack percentage after recording 34 kills and 15 errors in 90 swings.
     Kaylor led the RedStorm and tied Wehrman for game-high honors with 12 kills, while freshman Mitch Bartecki (New Lenox, IL) was credited with 31 assists, one block and one block assist.
     Sophomore Bobby Meifert (Bolingbrook, IL) had nine digs for Rio.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Friday night when it hosts Carolina University for a 7 p.m. first serve.