Rio Grande Sports Information
OWENSBORO, Ky. - The University of Rio Grande men's volleyball team snapped a seven-game losing slide with a 3-1 win over host Brescia University, before falling in straight sets to unbeaten and 12th-ranked Missouri Baptist University, Thursday afternoon, in a tri-match hosted by Brescia at The Moore Center.
The RedStorm's win came by scored of 25-19, 18-25, 25-21, 27-25, while the loss to the Spartans was by scores of 25-22, 25-18, 25-15.
Rio Grande finished the day at 2-9 with the split, while Brescia moved to 1-6 and Missouri Baptist improved to 8-0.
In the opener against Brescia, Rio scored seven of the final eight points in the opening set to snap an 18-all tie, but never led in the second stanza as the Bearcats evened the match.
The RedStorm bolted to a 7-1 lead in set three and led from start to finish to regain the match lead, while rallying from four separate six-point deficit in the final period.
Brescia led 20-16 before Rio rallied to tie the score at 21-21 after an attack error by the Bearcats.
The RedStorm also knotted the score at 23, 24 and 25, surviving a pair of set point chances by the hosts in the process.
Head coach Nick Rawls' club sealed the victory by scoring the next two points - one on a kill by freshman Otavio Tonoli (Campinas, Brazil) and a swing error by the 'Cats.
Senior Caden Donladson (Jackson, OH) led Rio's winning effort with 24 kills, while Tonoli and junior Tyler Miller-Bross (Loveland, OH) added 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Tonoli also had 14 digs, while Miller-Bross had a solo block and a block assist.
The RedStorm finished with a .202 attack percentage after tallying 58 kills and 32 errors in 129 swings.
Sophomore Mitch Bartecki (Valparaiso, IN) finished with 49 assists and freshman Jakob Tuz (Katowice, Poland) added 10 digs.
Tuna Konukcu had 17 kills, two solo blocks and three block assists for Brescia, while Meric Akovali had 10 kills and Finn Berger was credited with 33 assists.
Stephen Schmidt had eight digs for the Bearcats, while Mustafa Yildiz had a solo block and four block assists and Owen Collitt had six block assists.
In the second match of the day, Missouri Baptist trailed just once in each of the three sets and finished the match with a .373 attack percentage (43 kills, 15 errors, 75 attacks).
Aleksa Mandic had 17 kills and a trio of service aces in the win for the Spartans, while David Rudic had 36 assists and Michael Olson had nine digs.
Donaldson paced Rio Grande in the loss with nine kills, while Tuz had six digs and Bartecki finished with 20 assists.
Rio Grande returns to action next Wednesday in a tri-match hosted by Milligan (Tenn.) University.
The RedStorm will face Bluefield (Va.) University at 4 p.m. before squaring off with the host Buffaloes at 6 p.m.
