RedStorm men knock off Pomeroys

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande upended the River States Conference team with the most overall wins and, in the process, kept alive its fleeting hopes of earning a post-season berth.
     The RedStorm rallied from a 13-11 deficit in the fifth and deciding set, scoring the final four winners of the night for a 25-22, 20-25, 25-14, 21-25, 15-13 victory over St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, Friday night, in men's volleyball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande improved to 14-12 overall and 6-9 in conference play with the victory, while remaining tied with Brescia University for the sixth and final spot in the upcoming RSC Championship Tournament.
     The Pomeroys, who defeated the RedStorm at home in four sets back on March 20, dropped to 26-8 overall and 8-7 in the RSC with the loss.
     After using a 4-0 scoring spurt early in set four to take a lead it would never relinquish en route to forcing a deciding fifth stanza, SMWC looked poised to spoil the RedStorm's upset bid altogether after an attack error by Rio sophomore Daniel Rivas (Valle Del Cauca, Colombia gave the visitors a 13-11 advantage in set five.
     But Rivas rebounded with a kill on the next play, setting the stage for consecutive kills by sophomore Camilo Murillo (Cali, Colombia) which give the home team a 14-13 cushion.
     The Pomeroys called a timeout in hopes of stopping the momentum swing, but an attack error by Jeremy Lapeze out of the break capped off the match win by Rio.
     The two teams divided a back-and-forth opening two sets before Rio Grande rolled in set three by scoring 10 of the final 13 points.
     SMWC erased an early 5-3 deficit in set four with four consecutive winners to grab a lead it wouldn't relinquish and then set the stage for the entertaining finish.
     Rio Grande hit just .080 in the victory (46 kills, 36 errors, 125 attacks), its lowest swing percentage in a winning effort this season.
     The Pomeroys struggled even more, eclipsing their previous season-low mark of .108 in a loss to league-leader Campbellsville by hitting .008 with 38 kills and 37 errors in 130 attacks.
     Murillo and Rivas had 18 and 10 kills, respectively, to lead Rio's winning effort, while senior Mitch Bartecki (Valparaiso, IN) totaled a match-best 41 assists. Rivas also had two service aces.
     Sophomore Thomas Lhoste (Courbevoie, France) led the RedStorm with 13 digs, while junior Otavio Tonoli (Campinas, Brazil) finished with 11 and Bartecki added 10.
     Senior Cam Griffith (Columbus, OH) had two solo blocks and six block assists for Rio, while fellow senior Josef Iten (Sacramento, CA) had six block assists of his own.
     Tyler Duranceau had 11 kills to pace St. Mary-of-the-Woods, while Ethan Ricketts and Michael Olak finished with 19 and 16 assists, respectively.
     Jenu Ngilah led the Pomeroys with nine digs, while Noah Boyett had a solo block and four block assists and Yammiel Martinez tallied a solo block and three block assists.
     Christian Green also had four block assists in the loss.
     Rio Grande will close out its regular season schedule on Saturday when it hosts Oakland City University for Senior Day.
     First serve is set for 4 p.m. EDT.