Cougars outlast Rio men in five sets

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande rallied from two sets down to force a fifth and deciding stanza, but faded down the stretch in a 3-2 loss to Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Tuesday night, in non-conference men's volleyball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     The visiting Cougars got the match win by scores of 27-25, 25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 15-10, improving to 17-6 on the season.
     Rio Grande, which was playing its regular season home finale, dropped to 7-17 as a result of the loss.
     MVNU survived a late rally by the RedStorm in set one and, outside of a 1-0 deficit in set two, cruised through the next period for a commanding match lead.
     Rio Grande bolted to a 7-0 lead in set three and never trailed en route to forcing a fourth set, while an 8-0 run erased an 11-8 deficit and allowed the RedStorm to send the match to set five.
     The deciding period was all Cougars, though.
     The visitors scored nine of the first 11 winners in the shortened set and, while Rio drew to within four points on three separate occasions, the RedStorm got no closer.
     Mount Vernon Nazarene finished with a .198 attack percentage (56 kills, 23 errors, 167 swings) for the match, while also tallying 16.5 total blocks (2 solo, 29 assists).
     Spencer Stanley had 13 kills and 11 digs in the winning effort, while Jonathan Champlin had 11 kills and Riley Barretto finished with 10.
     Jaysen Matsumoto had a team-best 34 assists to go along with 14 digs for the Cougars, while Mikaja Dart had 10 assists and Daniel Skrzypchak had a team-high 16 digs.
     Luke Funte also had nine block assists for MVNU.
     Rio Grande tallied 60 kills and 35 errors in 177 swings for a .141 attack percentage.
     Junior Caden Donaldson (Jackson, OH) had 19 kills and 12 digs for the RedStorm, while sophomore Sam Kaylor (Lewis Center, OH) had 15 kills, 15 digs and three service aces and sophomore Tyler Miller-Bross (Loveland, OH) had 14 kills of his own.
     Sophomore Seth Mohr (Canton, OH) contributed 51 assists, 12 digs, a solo block and two block assists in a losing cause, while sophomore Bobby Meifert (Bolingbrook, IL) had a match-best 25 digs.
     Rio Grande closes out its regular season schedule with a two-game Mid-South Conference road swing beginning at Thomas More University on Thursday night.
     First serve is set for 7 p.m.
     The RedStorm's regular season finale is set for Saturday, at 4 p.m., at Campbellsville.