RedStorm falls to No. 12 Eagles in season opener

Rio Grande Sports Information
     WALESKA, Ga. - Twelfth-ranked Reinhardt University spotted the University of Rio Grande an early lead before roaring back to post a 3-1 (22-25, 30-28, 25-22, 25-15) victory over the RedStorm, Thursday night, in non-conference men's volleyball action at the Brown Athletic Center.
     The contest served as the season opener for both teams.
     Rio Grande hammered out a .417 swing percentage in its opening set win (12 kills and two errors in 24 attacks), but managed only three more kills than errors (28 kills, 25 errors, 101 attacks) over the final three sets.
     The RedStorm fought off five set point chances by the Eagles before finally falling in set two, while RU scored the final two winners to take set three and bolted to a 6-1 lead en route from leading from start to finish in the fourth set.
     The Eagles tallied 52 kills against 25 errors over 133 total attacks for a .203 swing percentage.
     Gabriel Gutierrez and Andrea Forcina finished with 18 and 10 kills, respectively, while Bruno Dewes had 29 assists and Ethan Keung added 18 assists of his own.
     Alex Sanchez had 21 digs in the winning effort, while Forcina had three service aces and Dewes recorded two aces.
     Ismael Gamero Guisado had five block assists for Reinhardt.
     Senior Daniel Bedoya (Acacias, Columbia) and freshman Daniel Rivas (Valle Del Cauca, Colombia) tallied 14 and 12 kills, respectively, to lead Rio Grande.
     Junior Mitch Bartecki (Valparaiso, IN) added 32 assists and freshman Maaz Khan (Peshawar, Pakistan) had 15 digs for the RedStorm, while senior Cam Griffith (Columbus, OH) had six block assists.
     Rio Grande returns to action on Friday when it faces Life (Ga.) University at Reinhardt.
     First serve is set for 1:30 p.m.