Live Stats | Live Video

Radford Volleyball welcomes Liberty to the Dedmon Center in the Big South opener for both teams on Friday evening at 7 p.m.

The Highlanders (4-8, 0-0 Big South) return home after five straight road contests and are looking to improve on their 2-1 mark at the Dedmon Center.

The Lady Flames (5-9, 0-0) are playing their fifth consecutive road contest and are coming off a 3-1 defeat at James Madison on Tuesday night.

In its final non-conference tournament, Radford went 1-2 at the Spartan Spiketacular picking up the win in the tournament-opener against Howard, 3-1.

The Highlanders were led by all-tournament selection Carly Fleming (Manassas, Va./Osbourn Park). The senior middle blocker recorded 41 kills and hit .471 over the three contests. She added 13 digs, seven total blocks (two solo) and two service aces.

Fleming leads the team in blocking with 43, including seven solo rejections. With those seven, she is the Highlanders' all-time leader in that category with 51, surpassing Divona Cox's 49 over the weekend in Greensboro. Combined with her 89 kills and 12 services aces, Fleming has attributed for a team-high 126 points.

Freshman Rachel Wiechecki (Wilmington, Del./Ursuline Academy) and senior Megan McWhorter (Newport News, Va./Peninsula Catholic) pace the offense with 94 (1.88/game) and 92 (2.97) kills. Wiechecki also has recorded a team-best 16 aces and is second on the squad with 85 digs.

Two-time Big South Freshman of the Week Emma Deininger (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) and Fleming are ranked second (.338) and fifth (.313) in the league in attack percentage.

Defensively, freshman Rachel Brummitt (Plano, Texas/Plano West) tops the league at 4.86 digs per game.

This will be the 62nd meeting with between the squads with Liberty holding a 36-25 advantage in the series. The Lady Flames have won 19 consecutive meetings dating back to the 2001 Big South Championship Match.

Liberty is coming off a 3-1 defeat at James Madison on Tuesday. The Lady Flames are paced by Lillie Happel with a Big South-best 176 (3.83/game) kills and is second on the team with 99 digs. Kelly Haseman leads Liberty defensively with 190 digs (4.13/game).

Radford returns to the Dedmon Center next weekend hosting Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville in a pair of league contests on Friday and Saturday. Prior to next weekend, the Highlanders will step out of conference on Tuesday and head to North Carolina Central.