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Rio Grande's Camilo Murillo (left) and Daniel Rivas (right) were named to the All-River States Conference Men's Volleyball Team. Murillo was named to the Second Team and Rivas was a Third Team pick.
Rio Grande's Camilo Murillo (left) and Daniel Rivas (right) were named to the All-River States Conference Men's Volleyball Team. Murillo was named to the Second Team and Rivas was a Third Team pick.
Posted: Apr 16, 2026

Rio places pair on All-RSC teams

Rio Grande/RSC Sports Information
     OXFORD, Ohio - Two University of Rio Grande standouts are among the players named to the 2026 All-River States Conference Men's Volleyball Team.
     Sophomore Camilo Murillo (Cali, Colombia) was named to the All-RSC Second Team, while fellow sophomore Daniel Rivas (Valle Del Cauca, Colombia) was a Third Team selections.
     The all-conference teams and major award winners, which were determined through voting by the league's head coaches, were announced earlier this week by the league office.
     Each team consists of nine players, consistent with the All-America teams which will be announced next month by the NAIA. The third team features 10 players due to a tie.
     Murillo had 170 kills to go along with a team-best 502 assists and 56 service aces. He ranked second on the RedStorm with 155 digs and was fourth in blocks with 31 (4 solo, 27 assists).
     Rivas led Rio with 289 kills, was tied for second with 21 service aces and ranked third with 135 digs.
     Rio Grande failed to qualify for post-season play after finishing 14-13 overall and 6-10 in league play.
     After winning their first River States Conference regular season title, the Tigers of Campbellsville University led all schools with six total All-Conference selections, including four on the first team.
     Runner-up Georgetown College had five players selected, with two making the top team, while Oakland City University and Cumberland University both had four selections. Two Mighty Oaks and one Phoenix made the first team list.
     The Pomeroys of St. Mary-of-the-Woods College had three overall selections, as did the Bearcats of Brescia University.
     In addition to Rio Grande's two honorees, the Red Wolves of Indiana University East rounded things out with one selection.
     The All-RSC First Team was comprised of Georgetown's Michal Bak and Adam Szewinski; Savvas Christou, Andrew Ovalle, Alonzo Vega and Pedro Zavatini from Campbellsville; Cumberland's Joao Infante; and the duo of Bryan Pepen an Tomasz Swiderski from Oakland City.
     In addition to Murillo, the Second Team is made up of Cumberland's Francesco Corradini and Alexander Heuer; Ayoub Hamadache from Campbellsville; Yammiel Martinez and Bentley Meyer from St. Mary-of-the-Woods; Jannis Pfeifer of Oakland City; Georgetown's Kristjan Unt; and Mustafa Yildiz from Brescia.
     Joining Rivas on the Third Team were Cumberland's Frederick Amegbletor; Arthur Barreto from IU East; Oakland City's Thiago Bassani; Tyler Duranceau from St. Mary-of-the Woods; Georgetown's Andrew Mayhew and Luis Vivius; Brescia's Joaquin Palacios and Malo Vandewalle; and Denzel Madrigal from Campbellsville.
     Infante became the first player in RSC history to win any conference award in back-to-back years, as the 2025 Attacker of the Year was named this year's RSC Player of the Year.
     Infante currently ranks first in the conference in both total kills (457) and kills per set (4.44), serving as the go-to option for the Phoenix.
     Infante ranks in the top five nationally in both categories, and ranks sixth in the nation in total points accounted for per set at 5.0.
     The Attacker of the Year went to Zavatini. He was almost impossible to stop at the net for the Tigers, ending the regular season with a .512 attack percentage, second-best in the nation.
     The Brazil native, who logged 223 kills for Campbellsville, also ranked in the top 10 in the conference with 80 total blocks, averaging nearly one block per set.
     Vega was honored as the Setter of the Year. The 2025 AVCA Honorable Mention All-American ranked third in the nation in assists per set, averaging more than eleven per frame, almost two more than his nearest River States counterpart.
     Vega is currently one of just two players in the nation with more than 1,000 assists this season.
     Campbellsville also claimed the Defender of the Year award in Ovalle.
     In a sport predicated on attacks that are almost impossible to dig out, Ovalle has been arguably the nation's best. He ranks third in the nation in total digs, and is the national leader in digs per set at 4.13.
     Ovalle is one of just two players in the nation with more than four digs per set, and will potentially hit the 400 dig mark in this weekend's RSC Tournament.
     The award for the top first-year player went to Christou. The freshman from Limassol, Cyprus racked up 248 kills for the Tigers, but has played his best volleyball down the stretch.
     In the last month, Christou has topped 10 kills in seven of the last nine games, all in River States Conference action.
     Campbellsville also claimed the two coaching awards, winning both Coach and Assistant Coach of the Year.
     Head coach Alfonso Alvarez was honored as the Coach of the Year, while Caleb Word earned Assistant Coach of the Year honors.
     Alvarez is in his fourth season with the Tigers and guided the program to its first regular season conference title, with Word serving as his top assistant.
     Additionally, the RSC announced the athletes recognized as their program's Champion of Character.
     Each team in each River States Conference sponsored sport is asked to nominate one athlete as their Champion of Character. These student-athletes best represent the NAIA's Champions of Character program and its five core values of Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Servant Leadership and Sportsmanship.
     Rio Grande's representative on the list was junior Otavio Tonoli (Campinas, Brazil).