Rio men end slide with sweep of Bearcats

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande stopped a six-match losing slide with a 25-19, 25-22, 25-22 triumph over Brescia University, Saturday afternoon, in River States Conference men's volleyball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     The RedStorm climbed back over the .500 mark for the season with the win, improving to 9-8 overall and 2-5 inside the RSC.
     Brescia slipped to 7-10 overall and 2-5 against conference foes.
     The Bearcats led 15-14 in the opening set before Rio Grande closed the stanza on an 11-4 run to take the early match lead.
     Brescia also led 19-16 in set two after a kill by Haris Hasicevic, but the RedStorm again finished strong with a 9-3 spurt to take the period and grab control of the match.
     The third time was also the charm for the visitors, who led as late as 19-17 in set three before Rio reeled off eight of the final 11 winners to close out the match.
     The RedStorm finished with a .258 attack percentage, totaling 43 kills and 20 errors in 89 swings.
     Sophomore Daniel Rivas led the winning effort with 12 kills, while sophomore Camilo Murillo (Cali, Colombia) had 29 assists and 10 digs and senior Josef Iten (Sacramento, CA) had seven block assists.
     Brescia, which was playing without the services of standout Mustafa Yildiz, who was serving a one-game suspension for a violation of team rules, had a .182 attack percentage (29 kills, 15 errors, 77 attacks).
     Remi Pit led the Bearcats, who won the previous meeting with Rio Grande, with eight kills and Finn Berger had 24 assists.
     Miguel Veloso had five digs in a losing cause, while Joaquin Palacios had six block assists and Tomas Oliveria tallied a trio of service aces.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Tuesday night when it travels to Winston-Salem, N.C. for a non-conference meeting with Carolina University.
     First serve is set for 6 p.m.