BOX SCORE

RADFORD, Va. – Radford volleyball took game one and came up just short with a game-four rally as it fell to James Madison, 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 14-25, 23-25), Tuesday evening from the Dedmon Center.

Rachel Wiechecki (Wilmington, Del./Ursuline Academy), the reigning Big South Player of the Week, recorded a double-double for the Highlanders (8-12) with a team-best 13 kills and 11 digs. Rachel Brummitt (Plano, Texas/Plano West), who was coming off a league Defensive Player of the Week honor, registered a match-best 26 digs.

In the closing game, the Dukes (14-5) raced out to an 11-3 and seemed to be in control up 23-15. However, the Highlanders pushed eight straight points, before a service error ended the rally and a kill by Natalie Abel sealed the match. During the rally, Wiechecki recorded two kills and Emily Carlin (Downington, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) served up a pair of aces.

Abel posted a match-high 14 kills with zero errors (.438) for the Dukes. Kelly Maguire and Danielle Erb chipped in with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Defensively, Katie Daorai dug it 25 times, while Erb added 11 digs for a double-double.

In a back-and-forth game one, Radford closed it out with three straight points for a 25-23 win. The first set featured 13 ties and nine lead changes with neither team grabbing more than a four-point advantage. With the Highlanders trailing 23-22, an attack error followed by Carlin's ace and a kill by Emily Hayes (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) ended the set.

James Madison broke a 9-9 deadlock with a quick three points and did not trial the rest of the way to even the match at 1-1. After Radford was able to get within 12-11, the Dukes gave themselves some breathing room with a 5-0 spurt and they would go on for the 25-21 triumph.

JMU hit .481 and pulled away from Radford with a 10-3 run to earn a 25-14 win and grab a 2-1 advantage in the match.

Offensively, freshman Emma Deininger (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) added 10 kills with three block assists. Freshman Christine Beckham (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) dished out a team-high 20 assists, while JMU's Megan Wiechmann tallied a match-high 25 helpers.

Radford continues at home this weekend hosting Charleston Southern on Friday at 7 p.m. and Coastal Carolina on Saturday at 4 p.m.