No. 4 Tigers top Rio, stay unbeaten

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Fourth-ranked Campbellsville University had just one attack error in the first set and didn't let up over the final two stanzas, posting a 3-0 victory over the University of Rio Grande, Saturday afternoon, in River States Conference men's volleyball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     The Tigers, who won by scores of 25-19, 25-23, 25-16, ran their season record to 18-0 and moved to 6-0 in the RSC.
     Rio Grande suffered a fifth consecutive loss and dropped to 8-7 overall and 1-5 against league foes.
     Campbellsville hit no lower than .346 in any set and finished the match with a .434 swing mark (41 kills, 8 errors, 76 attacks).
     Still, the Tigers led just 12-11 in the opening stanza after a kill by Rio senior Josef Iten (Sacramento, CA), but then scored next three winners and led by no less than three for the remainder of the set.
     The RedStorm made their guests work for a win in set two, leading as late as 22-21, before CU scored four of the final points in the period. Three of the four winners came via kills by Ayoube Hamadache.
     Rio Grande trailed just 12-11 in set three after a Campbellsville service error, but the Tigers created daylight with a 5-1 run and the RedStorm got no closer than three the rest of the way.
     When Rio did pull within 17-14 after a kill by sophomore Thomas Lhoste (Courbevoie, France), Campbellsville finished off the match with an 8-2 spurt.
     Fernando Rodriguez led the Tigers' balanced attack along the net with 10 kills, while Alonzo Vega had 37 assists and Andrew Ovalle had 14 digs.
     Vega and Pedro Zavatini had two block assists each in the winning effort.
     Rio Grande tallied a .212 attack percentage for the match with 37 kills and 19 errors in 85 swings.
     Sophomore Daniel Rivas (Valle Del Cauca, Colombia) led the RedStorm in a losing cause with 10 kills, while sophomore Camilo Murillo (Cali, Colombia) was credited with 29 assists, six digs and two service aces.
     Rio Grande failed to record a block in the loss.
     The RedStorm will look to end their losing slide on Tuesday when Bluefield (Va.) University visits for a 5 p.m. first serve.
     The match was rescheduled after being postponed by inclement weather on January 28.