Rio Grande Sports Information
PARKVILLE, Mo. - The University of Rio Grande men's volleyball team spotted Ottawa (Kan.) University an early lead before roaring back to post a 3-1 win over the Braves on Friday to earn a season-opening split of its matches in the Pirate Invitational hosted by Park University at the Breckon Sports Center.
The RedStorm defeated Ottawa 22-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-18 after beginning the day with a straight sets loss to host Park (25-20, 25-17, 25-18).
Ottawa, which was among the teams receiving votes in the preseason NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll, grabbed the early match lead by scoring five of the final seven winners in set one to snap a 20-20 deadlock.
Rio Grande never trailed in set two, lead throughout most of the third set and only faced deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 in set four.
Four straight winners after the last of the three deficits gave head coach Nick Rawls' team a lead it would never relinquish and an eventual match victory.
Senior Caden Donaldson (Jackson, OH) and freshman Otavio Tonoli (Campinas, Brazil) finished with 15 and 10 kills, respectively, while sophomore Mitch Bartecki (Valparaiso, IN) had 40 assists and junior Seth Mohr (Canton, OH) tallied 21 digs.
Junior Sam Kaylor (Lewis Center, OH) had four block assists in the winning effort, while junior Tyler Miller-Bross (Loveland, OH) also had four block assists and three service aces.
Grant Younie and Akeli Williams had 10 kills each to lead Ottawa. Williams also had two solo blocks and three block assists and Younie had five block assists.
Andrew Salinas and Kade Zrna had 20 and 16 assists, respectively, for the Braves, while Nazmi Bayoglu had 12 digs.
In the opening match of the day against Park, Rio Grande led or was within striking distance early in each of the three sets before the Pirates managed to pull away.
The RedStorm led 6-4 after a kill by Donaldson in set one, but Park reeled off five straight points and never trailed again in the set.
Set two saw Rio trailing just 11-10 after a service ace by Donaldson, but the Pirates responded with six straight winners and a 10-2 run overall to grab a commanding lead in the match.
The third set was tied at 6-all after a Park service error, but the Pirates then went on a 9-1 scoring spurt to take control of the period and put the match away.
Tonoli had nine kills to lead Rio, while Bartecki had 27 assists and Mohr had two service aces.
Mohr, Kaylor and Donaldson also had four digs each in the loss.
Joao Infante had nine kills for Park, which had 34 kills and 10 errors in 95 swings as a team for a .369 attack percentage. He also had a match-best three service aces.
Marcus Lucchesi had 27 assists to pace the Pirates, while Gabriel Soares added six digs, a solo block and a pair of block assists.
Rio Grande wraps up its run in the tourney on Saturday when it faces Viterbo (Wis.) at 11 a.m. and Morningside (Iowa) at 3 p.m.
