Rio men fall in three to Cumberland

Rio Grande Sports Information
     LEBANON, Tenn. - Jacob Whyte had 13 kills and three service aces to lead Cumberland University in a straight sets win over the University of Rio Grande, Saturday afternoon, in Mid-South Conference men's volleyball action at the Dallas Floyd Recreation Center.
     The host Phoenix got the win by scores 25-23, 28-26, 25-20, improving to 8-11 overall and 5-3 in league play in the process.
     Rio Grande slipped to 7-18 overall and 1-6 in the MSC with the loss.
     The RedStorm rallied to take 20-19 lead late in the opening period and regained a 21-20 advantage moments later, but Cumberland scored five of the final seven points - including the final two - to grab the early match lead.
     Rio led as late as 17-16 in the second set and rallied to forge ties at 23, 24, 25 and 26 before the Phoenix again recorded the final two winners and claim the set.
     Cumberland led for nearly all of the final set, outside of an early 1-0 Rio advantage and ties at 5-all and 6-all.
     The Phoenix, who finished with 42 kills and 15 errors in 92 attacks for a .293 swing percentage, also got 10 kills from Austin Smalley.
     Alexander Heuer had 32 assists, five digs, a solo block and two block assists for CU, while Kaden Kuehler had three block assists.
     Senior Caden Donaldson (Jackson, OH) and freshman Otavio Tonoli (Campinas, Brazil) had 16 and 10 kills, respectively, in the loss for Rio Grande, while sophomore Mitch Bartecki (Valparaiso, IN) had 30 assists, junior Seth Mohr (Canton, OH) had eight digs and junior Tyler Miller-Bross (Loveland, OH) had a solo block and a pair of block assists.
     Rio Grande returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Owensboro, Ky. for an MSC matchup with Brescia University.
     First serve is set for 4 p.m. EDT.