Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande men's volleyball team dropped a pair of 3-0 decisions on Saturday as part of the Rio Grande Classic at the Newt Oliver Arena.
The RedStorm fell to Cumberland (Tenn.) University 25-17, 25-15, 25-22 in a match that also doubled as a Mid-South Conference contest, while losing 25-15, 25-21, 25-22 to St. Andrews (N.C.) University in the final match of the two-day event.
Rio Grande closed the day at 5-14 after the two losses.
In the opener against Cumberland, the visiting Phoenix were in control throughout and finished with a .477 attack percentage (48 kills, 6 errors, 88 attacks).
Rio Grande's only lead in the entire match came at 3-2 in the third set.
Christian Lester and Luka Ilic had 11 and 10 kills, respectively, for Cumberland, while Jordan Pierce had 39 assists and Caleb Ginnings had 13 digs.
Kaden Kuehler had three block assists for the Phoenix.
Junior Caden Donaldson (Jackson, OH) had 15 kills to pace Rio Grande, while sophomore Sam Kaylor (Lewis Center, OH) had 11 of his own.
Sophomore Seth Mohr (Canton, OH) had 27 assists for the RedStorm and sophomore Bobby Meifert (Bolingbrook, IL) had eight digs.
Against St. Andrews in the nightcap, Rio trailed throughout nearly all of the first two sets and couldn't maintain a four-point lead midway through the final stanza.
The RedStorm did manage to regain a 22-20 advantage in the latter stage of the period, but the Knights wrapped up the match by scoring the final five points of the night.
Like Cumberland in the opening match, St. Andrews enjoyed a big attack game at the net and finished with a .330 swing percentage (41 kills, 11 errors, 91 attacks).
Hazem Aldeghafar led the Knights with 12 kills, while Dakota Hotaling had 31 assists and Leonardo Cirqueira finished with 12 digs.
Juan Silva added four service aces and Kenton Bedford contributed four block assists to the winning effort.
Donaldson and Kaylor had 10 kills each in the loss for Rio, while Donaldson also tied Meifert with eight digs.
Mohr had 25 assists and sophomore Sam Winhoven (Pickerington, OH) had a pair of block assists for the RedStorm.
Rio Grande returns to action on Thursday night when No. 7-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) College visits for a 6 p.m. first serve.
