VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS HIGH POINT TO REACH 20 WINS

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RADFORD, Va. – The Radford volleyball team reached 20 wins for the 13^th time in program history as the Highlanders dispatched High Point in straight sets (25-17, 25-19, 25-19) Saturday afternoon inside the Dedmon Center.

RU improves to 20-9 overall, including a 9-3 mark in Big South action. With the win, the Highlanders move into a tie for first place with Coastal Carolina in the league standings. High Point drops to 13-14 on the season and 7-5 in conference competition.

"Our serve and pass game was on today," head coach Marci Jenkins said. "When we are able to stay in system, we are tough to stop. It showed today. I am proud of our team for improving upon last night's performance. Hopefully, this will give us momentum as we head into two huge road matches next weekend."

For the second straight day, Rachel Wiechecki led the offense with a match-high 20 kills. The outside hitter finished with 42 kills for the weekend. Jena Braden continued her double-double streak with a match-high 39 assists and 10 digs. Kelby Jackson anchored the backline with her team-best 12 digs.

Chelsea Davis, who leads the Big South in kills per set, was limited to just 11 kills for the contest. She also chipped in nine digs. Maddie Simpson tossed out 18 assists, while Annemarie Chin charted a match-high 15 digs for HPU.

Radford was superb on the defensive end, holding the Panthers to .074 on the attack. The Highlanders also won the dig battle, 47-39.

Wiechecki and Cheyanne James combined for 11 of Radford's 16 kills in the first frame as the Highlanders prevailed, 25-17. After RU raced out to a 10-5 advantage, the Panthers closed the gap to 12-11. Another James blast sparked a 6-1 surge that put the Highlanders on top, 18-12. HPU got no closer than three the rest of the way.

Keeping its intensity from the first set, Radford quickly grabbed a 6-2 lead in the second stanza. The Highlanders pushed their margin to as many as eight before claiming a 25-19 victory and a 2-0 edge at intermission.

Wiechecki capped her day off with an unbelievable third set where she cranked eight kills on 12 attempts (.667 percentage) to pace RU to a 25-19 win. Behind 6-3 in the early going, Wiechecki crushed a kill to spark a 4-0 run to push Radford ahead, 7-6. The lead swapped a couple times over the next few rallies before James broke a 10-10 tie to vault the Highlanders in front for good.

Radford's 20^th victory marks the first time the program has reached the 20-win plateau since 2001 when the Highlanders finished 24-7. RU will look to continue its winning ways when the squad heads to Gardner-Webb (Nov. 15) and UNC Asheville (Nov. 16) next weekend to close out the regular season.

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