Donaldson hits milestone mark in loss to Tigers

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The vocal contingent who showed up at the Newt Oliver Arena for Saturday afternoon's Mid-South Conference men's volleyball matchup between the University of Rio Grande and Campbellsville University saw exactly what they came to see.
     They almost got to see something they hadn't planned for. Almost.
     Senior Caden Donaldson surpassed the 1,000-kill mark for his career, but the RedStorm came up short on their chance for an upset win, dropping a 3-2 decision (21-25, 25-21, 26-28, 25-23, 16-14) to the Tigers.
     Rio Grande slipped to 11-17 overall and 2-6 in the MSC as a result of the loss.
     Campbellsville, which was among the schools receiving votes in the latest NAIA coaches' Top 15 poll, ran its record to 22-8 overall and 9-0 in league play with the victory.
     Donaldson, a senior from Jackson, Ohio and the son of Rio Grande Athletic Hall of Fame members Billina and Troy Donaldson, hit the magical mark with a cross-court attack that landed just inside the back right corner of the court and pulled Rio within 19-16 in set three.
     The RedStorm went on to win the set and take the match lead, staving off a pair of set point chances by the Tigers and scoring the final two winners in the period to snap a 26-all tie.
     Rio Grande led 21-20 in the pivotal fourth set before Campbellsville reeled off three straight winners to take a 23-21 advantage.
     The RedStorm rallied to forge a 23-all deadlock, but the Tigers notched the final two winners of the stanza to force a winner-take-all fourth set.
     Rio quickly bolted to a 7-3 advantage in set five and was within one point of a match victory after a Donaldson kill made it 14-13, but Campbellsville scored the final three winners - kills by JoVeaun Banks and Alonzo Vega sandwiched around a RedStorm attack error - to survive and remain unbeaten in the MSC.
     Denzel Madrigal had 24 kills to lead the Tigers' winning effort, while Pedro Zavatini and Banks added 13 and 11, respectively. Zavatini also had a solo block and two block assists, while Banks had four block assists.
     Aleksa Plevaljcic and Vega were credited with 42 and 20 assists, respectively, while Andres Laboy had 21 digs.
     Campbellsville finished with 67 kills and 26 errors over 146 attacks for a .281 swing percentage.
     Rio Grande had 62 kills and 27 errors in 152 swings for a .230 percentage.
     Donaldson tied Madrigal for match-high honors and led the RedStorm with 24 kills, while freshman Otavio Tonoli (Campinas, Brazil) had 17 kills and five service aces and junior Tyler Miller-Bross (Loveland, OH) had 10 kills, a solo block and seven block assists.
     Sophomore Mitch Bartecki (Valparaiso, IN) had a match-best 55 assists in the loss, while junior Seth Mohr (Canton, OH) had 13 digs. Donaldson added 10 digs of his own.
     Rio Grande returns to action on Tuesday night when it entertains Midway University in another MSC contest.
     First serve is set for 7 p.m.