Rio men roll past Lakers, end losing slide

Rio Grande Sports Information
    CHICAGO, Ill. - The University of Rio Grande shook off a slow start and rallied for a 3-1 (20-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-21) win over Roosevelt University, Monday night, in non-conference men's volleyball action at the Goodman Center.
    The RedStorm, who snapped a five-match losing streak, improved to 6-16 with the victory.
    The host Lakers dropped to 6-14 with the loss.
    Rio Grande committed half of its 26 attack errors in the opening set, helping fuel a 6-0 scoring spurt by the home team that erased a 14-11 deficit and kept the Lakers in front the rest of the way for an early match lead.
    The RedStorm trailed just once over the course of the next two sets, though, before wrapping up the match victory with a roller-coaster fourth stanza.
    Rio Grande raced to a 6-1 lead in set four before Roosevelt reeled off five straight winners to knot the score at 6-all.
    The Lakers extended their rally and opened up a 14-9 advantage before the RedStorm recorded seven of the next nine points to re-tie the set at 16-16.
    Things were still deadlocked at 19-19 before a kill by Rio sophomore Tyler Miller-Bross (Loveland, OH) kickstarted a 6-2 match-ending run for the RedStorm.
    Junior Caden Donaldson (Jackson, OH) led Rio Grande with 17 kills and three service aces, while sophomore Sam Kaylor (Lewis Center, OH) had 16 kills of his own and Miller-Bross finished with 12.
    The RedStorm tallied a .208 attack percentage with 51 kills and 26 errors in 120 swings.
    Sophomore Seth Mohr (Canton, OH) had 47 assists in the winning effort, while sophomore Bobby Meifert (Bolingbrook, IL) had 13 digs and sophomore Ethan Johnson (Hamilton, OH) was credited with a solo block and four block assists.
    Roosevelt finished with 34 kills and 22 errors in 105 attacks as a team for a .114 swing percentage.
    Shawn McCarthy had 10 kills, five block assists and a pair of service aces for the Lakers, while Tony Galaena had 24 assists and Joseph Claffy had one solo block and six block assists.
    Daniel Mahoney and Favio Lopez-Para had eight digs each in a losing cause.
    Rio Grande continues its road swing on Wednesday night at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College.
    First serve is set for 7 p.m.