Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande men's volleyball team moved over the .500 mark for the first time this season with a pair of wins on Friday in the opening round of the Rio Grande Invitational Tournament at the Newt Oliver Arena.
The RedStorm outlasted Siena Heights (Mich.) University for 3-2 (22-25, 26-24, 25-23, 23-25, 16-14) victory and then bounced Park University-Gilbert (Az.) in a 3-1 triumph (25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 25-18).
The wins left head coach Nick Rawls' club at 3-2 on the season.
Senior Daniel Bedoya (Acacias, Colombia) led the winning effort against Siena Heights with 22 kills, while freshman Daniel Rivas (Valle Del Cauca, Colombia) finished with 14 of his own and junior Mitch Bartecki (Valparaiso, IN) tallied 48 assists.
Freshman Maaz Khan (Peshawar, Pakistan) had 20 digs and a pair of service aces, while Rivas and freshman Geronimo Galeano (Bogota, Colombia) also had two service aces each.
Senior Tyler Miller-Bross (Loveland, OH) had a solo block and seven block assists for Rio, while Bedoya had a solo block and four block assists and senior Cam Griffith (Columbus, OH) had five block assists.
Daniel Rua had 10 kills to place the Saints, while Zak Tucker had 37 assists and Santiago Salazar had nine digs, a solo block and two block assists.
Dominic Rees added seven service aces in a losing cause for the Saints (1-1).
Bedoya also led way for Rio in the win over Park-Gilbert, tallying 20 kills.
Miller-Bross had 12 kills of his own, while Bartecki had 35 assists and Khaz totaled 29 digs.
Griffith had four block assists, while Miller-Bross and Bedoya had three block assists each.
Dominic Smith had 11 kills and four block assists for Park-Gilbert, which hit just .083 for the match (38 kills, 28 errors, 121 attacks).
Trevor Ayala had 26 assists, Zac York recorded 16 digs and Jonah Baich also had four block assists for the Buccaneers (0-3).
Rio Grande returns to action on Saturday in the final round of the Invitational when it faces Aquinas (Mich.) College at 1 p.m. and Life (Ga.) University at 7 p.m.
