Rio men fail to tame Tigers

Rio Grande Sports Information
     CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - The University of Rio Grande coughed up an opportunity to grab an early match lead and never recovered, dropping a 3-1 decision (26-24, 25-17, 18-25, 25-23) to Campbellsville University, Saturday afternoon, in River States Conference men's volleyball action at Gosser Gym.
     The host Tigers, ranked No. 17 in the latest NAIA Top 15 coaches' poll, improved to 8-3 overall and 5-0 in the RSC with the victory.
     Rio Grande slipped to 8-7 overall and 0-3 in conference play as a result of the loss.
     The RedStorm appeared on their way to a great start with a 24-21 lead in the opening set, but Campbellsville put aside three set points and finished on a 5-0 run to grab their own early lead.
     Rio also hung tough for a while in set two after a kill by freshman Daniel Rivas (Valle Del Cauca, Colombia) knotted the score at 10-all, but the Tigers reeled off five consecutive winners and never looked back.
     The RedStorm never trailed in set three and were able to extend the match to a fourth set, but head coach Nick Rawls' squad never enjoyed the lead in what proved to be the final period.
     Rio Grande did rally to forge ties at 20-, 22- and 23-all, but a kill and a subsequent ace by Campbellsville's Denzel Madrigal closed things out.
     John-Marcos Gonzalez led the Tigers with 13 kills, while Mason McKinney and Ayoube Hamadache recorded 11 kills each.
     Alonzo Vega had 40 assists to lead CU, while Andrew Ovalle had 12 digs and Pedro Zavatini tallied a solo block and five block assists.
     Madrigal also had five block assists for Campbellsville, which hit .301 (51 kills, 17 assists, 113 swings) for the match.
     Rio Grande committed 21 of its 26 attack errors in the first two sets and finished with 48 kills in 111 swings for a .198 attack percentage.
     Senior Daniel Bedoya (Acacias, Colombia) had 17 kills to pace the RedStorm, while Rivas had 12 of his own and freshman Camilo Murillo (Cali, Colombia) had 36 assists, five of the team's seven service aces and three block assists in his season debut.
     Freshman Maaz Khan (Peshawar, Pakistan) added a team-high 16 digs in a losing cause, while senior Cam Griffith (Columbus, OH) had a solo block and a block assist and junior Josef Iten (Sacramento, CA) had three block assists.
     Rio Grande returns to action Friday night when it hosts Indiana University East for an RSC matchup in the first part of an eight-game homestand.
     First serve is set for 7 p.m. at the Newt Oliver Arena.