Rio coach hits milestone mark in rout ot Bison

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - A steady snow falling outside may have helped delay the start of Tuesday's home opener for the University of Rio Grande men's volleyball team.
     It did not, however, delay the inevitable - a win for the RedStorm.
     Head coach Nick Rawls' team led, essentially, from start to finish and cruised to a 25-14, 25-18, 25-9 victory over Bethany (WV) College in non-conference action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande ran its record to 6-2 and pushed its winning streak to five consecutive outings.
     The victory was also the 100th in the collegiate head coaching career of Rawls, who started the men's volleyball program at St. Andrews (N.C.) University before returning to do the same at Rio Grande, where he served previously as a graduate assistant coach with the women's volleyball program.
     Rawls was surprised with a post-game congratulatory video featuring current and former players, fellow coaches and family members.
     His team made quick work of the visiting Bison (0-5), jumping to a 7-0 lead in set one. The final four points in the match-opening spurt were courtesy of consecutive service aces by sophomore Camilo Murillo (Cali, Colombia).
     In fact, Bethany's only leads of the night came early in the second set at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2.
     The Bison finished with a -.170 attack percentage after tallying just 10 kills against 18 errors in 47 total swings.
     Bethany, which designated the contest as an exhibition, also suffered from 13 service errors and 12 reception errors.
     Rio Grande hit .345 with 29 kills and 10 errors in 55 attacks.
     Sophomore Thomas Lhoste (Courbevoie, France) led the winning effort with 10 kills, while Murillo was credited with 19 assists and seven aces and the duo of sophomore Aevin Dotter (Pickerington, OH) and freshman Jasprit Singh (Papamoa, New Zealand) had four digs each.
     Senior Cam Griffith (Columbus, OH) had two block assists for the RedStorm.
     Braeden Reedus had three kills and a pair of block assists for Bethany, while Zachary Kay had nine assists. Baylen Loosier and Riley Burdett had three digs each in the loss.
     Weather permitting, Rio Grande is scheduled to return to the court on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Carolina University in another non-conference tilt.
     First serve is set for 3 p.m.