Bearcats keep Rio men winless in conference play

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande men's volleyball team lost one of its starters on the third point of Saturday night's get-together with Brescia University.
     And at the close of the night, the RedStorm lost the match, too.
     The visiting Bearcats pulled away early in set one and pulled away late in each of the next two periods for a 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-23) victory over head coach Nick Rawls' squad in Mid-South Conference action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande slipped to 5-14 overall and 0-4 in conference play as a result of the loss.
     The RedStorm lost the services of freshman outside hitter Jakub Tuz (Katowice, Poland) to an apparent ankle inury on the third point of the contest and the home team struggled to find a measure of consistency the rest of the night.
     Brescia, which improved to 4-13 overall and 1-3 in the MSC with the win, used a 5-0 run to erase a 4-3 deficit in the opening stanza and never relinquished the lead, scoring six of the final eight points in the set to take an early match lead.
     Rio Grande led as late as 16-15 in set two, but the Bearcats scored the next two winners and never trailed again.
     The RedStorm did force ties at 17-17, 19-19, 20-20 and 22-22, but failed to get over the hump as Brescia scored the final three points of the stanza to take a commanding match lead.
     Rio also led 12-11 in the third set before three straight winners gave the Bearcats the lead for good.
     The RedStorm did forge ties at 15-all and 16-all and reeled off four straight winners to draw with 24-23, but a kill by Brescia's Finn Berger closed things out for good.
     Brescia finished with a .250 attack percentage, tallying 35 kills and just 12 errors in 92 swings.
     Tuna Konukcu and Mustafa Yildiz had 14 and 12 kills, respectively, in the winning effort, while Meric Akovali was credited with 28 assists and Stephen Schmidt had 10 digs.
     Owen Collitt had two solo blocks and three block assists, while Akovali and Yildiz had four block assists each.
     Rio Grande finished with a .139 swing percentage after totaling 36 kills and 22 errors in 101 attacks.
     Senior Caden Donaldson (Jackson, OH) had 13 kills for the RedStorm, while sophomore Mitch Bartecki (Valparaiso, IN) finished with 31 assists and junior Seth Mohr (Canton, OH) had 18 digs.
     Junior Tyler Miller-Bross (Loveland, OH) had a solo block, two block assists and two service aces, while junior Sam Kaylor (Lewis Center, OH) and freshman Otavio Tonoli (Campinas, Brazil) had three block assists each.
     Rio Grande returns to action on Monday night at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C., just outside of Asheville.
     First serve is set for 7 p.m.