Rio continues roll with win over Cougars

Rio Grande Sports Information
     MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande finished strong in each of the first two sets and then held on down the stretch in set four in a 3-1 triumph over Mount Vernon Nazarene, Tuesday night, in non-conference men's volleyball action at Ariel Arena.
     Rio Grande, which won for the sixth time in its last seven outings, pushed its season mark to 6-3.
     The host Cougars dropped to 1-6.
     Rio Grande scored eight of the final 11 winners to claim set one and closed set two on a 5-0 run to take a commanding lead.
     MVNU led throughout most of set three to extends things to a fourth stanza, but the RedStorm got a pair of kills by freshman Daniel Rivas (Valle Del Cauca, Colombia) as part of a 3-0 run which built a 16-12 advantage.
     The Cougars closed the deficit to just one point on seven occasions, but were never able to tie or gain the lead and Rio scored the final two winners to close out the match.
     The RedStorm got the win despite a .076 attack percentage (41 kills and 33 errors in 105 swings).
     Senior Daniel Bedoya (Acacias, Colombia) tallied 19 kills and four block assists to pace Rio at the net, while Rivas finished with 10 kills of his own.
     Freshman Maaz Khan (Peshawar, Pakistan) had 12 digs and junior Mitch Bartecki (Valparaiso, IN) tallied 36 assists in the winning effort, while senior Sam Kaylor (Lewis Center, OH) recorded a pair of service aces.
     MVNU posted a .162 attack percentage with 35 kills and 19 errors over 99 attacks, but the Cougars were undermined a whopping 25 service errors
     Ethan Cline had 12 kills and six digs and Tyler Shields had 28 assists for the hosts, while Daniel Daly had two solo blocks and two block assists.
     Jackson Bush also had six digs in a losing cause.
     The RedStorm are scheduled to return to action on Friday and Saturday when they venture north to Michigan for matches with Aquinas College and Lawrence Tech University.