Rio Grande Sports Information
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. - For the second consecutive day, the University of Rio Grande men's volleyball team divided its two games in the Olivet Nazarene University Invitational at McHie Arena.
The RedStorm squandered a 2-0 lead and dropped a 25-27, 20-25, 25-23, 25-16, 15-9 decision to Missouri Baptist before closing out Friday's final round with a 3-0 sweep (25-16, 25-18, 25-17) of Graceland (Iowa).
Rio found itself just three points away from a sweep of Missouri Baptist, but managed just one of the final five points in set three to extend the contest.
Baptist used a 6-0 run to take a 24-14 lead in set four and eventually tie the match and then jumped to a 9-4 cushion in the final set en route to completing the comeback.
Missouri Baptist, which improved to 3-0 with the win, hit .339 for the match (61 kills, 21 errors, 118 swings).
Luka Stepanovic had 14 kills for the winners, while Nikos Faoutas had 12 kills, Justin McGary and Johnathan Kreke had 11 each and Aj Tufuga totaled 10. McGary also had three service aces, while Kreke had a solo block and three block assists.
Josh Kaemmerer and Axel Griguer had 43 and 11 assists, respectively, while Cruse Aea had 13 digs and three service aces of his own.
Sophomore Daniel Rivas (Valle Del Cauca, Colombia) had 13 kills and eight digs for Rio Grande, which had 53 kills and 28 errors in 122 swings (.205).
Sophomore Camilo Murillo (Cali, Colombia) added 38 assists and three aces for the RedStorm and junior Otavio Tonoli (Campinas, Brazil) had two blocks and two block assists.
A 12-2 run gave Rio a 22-12 lead and eventual set one win against Graceland, while the RedStorm closed set two on a 7-3 spurt to take a commaning match lead.
Rio, which hit .221 for the match, never trailed in set three to close out the contest.
Rivas had nine kills, two solo blocks and a block assist, while Murillo had 25 assists and nine digs and freshman Samael Beltran (Colombia) had a solo block and three block assists.
Graceland had one more error (23) than it had kills (22) over 87 swings and had a -.011 attack percentage.
Joseph Kaden and Richard Hawk had five kills each in a losing cause, while Andrew Cziep had 11 assists. Hawk also had seven digs.
Rio Grande is slated to return to action, weather permitting, on Wednesday night when it hosts Bluefield (Va.) University for a 5 p.m. first serve.
