Bearcats take down Rio men

Rio Grande Sports Information
     OWENSBORO, Ky. - Host Brescia University bolted to a commanding lead early on and cruised to a 3-1 win over the University of Rio Grande, Saturday afternoon, in River States Conference men's volleyball action at the Moore Center.
     The Bearcats recorded the victory by scores of 25-23, 25-20, 21-25, 25-23 and upped their record to 5-3 overall and 2-0 in the RSC.
     Rio Grande slipped to 8-5 overall and 0-2 in league play with a second straight loss.
     Brescia scored three of the final four winners to snap a 22-all tie in set one and then had six of the final seven points in set two to grab control of the match.
     Rio Grande trailed 9-8 in the third stanza before reeling off five straight points to grab the lead for good and, eventually, force a fourth set.
     The RedStorm looked to be on their way to forcing a fifth and deciding set after a kill by senior Daniel Bedoya (Acacias, Colombia) gave head coach Nick Rawls' squad a 23-22 lead, but the Bearcats scored the final three winners - two on kills by Mustafa Yildiz - to close out the contest.
     Brescia hit .241 for the match with 43 kills and 16 errors over 112 swings.
     Owen Collitt led a balanced attack at the net for the Bearcats with 10 kills, while Meric Akovali tallied 35 assists and Stephen Schmidt had 16 digs.
     Yildiz also had two solo blocks and one block assist in the win, while Joaquin Palacios had a solo block and two block assists.
     Rio Grande finished with a .189 swing percentage as a team, totaling 57 kills and 32 errors in 132 attacks.
     Bedoya and freshman Daniel Rivas (Valle Del Cauca, Colombia) had 15 kills, a solo block and a block assist each for the RedStorm, while junior Mitch Bartecki (Valparasio, IN) had 44 assists and freshman Maaz Khan (Peshawar, Pakistan) finished with 19 digs.
     Senior Cam Griffith (Columbus, OH) added three blocks assists in a losing cause.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action next Friday at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tenn.