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Volleyball

RADFORD TRAVELS WEST FOR THREE MATCHES IN NEW MEXICO



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RADFORD, Va. – Winners of three-straight matches, the Radford volleyball team now enters a brutal stretch of its nonconference schedule, beginning with this weekend's La Quinta Invitational hosted by New Mexico State at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M.
 
The three-day tournament features three teams (Radford, California and New Mexico State) that qualified for the 2013 NCAA tournament.
 
LA QUINTA INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
Below is the schedule for New Mexico State's home tournament, which begins Thursday. All times are listed as EST.
 
Thursday, Sept. 4
North Dakota State at New Mexico State, 9 p.m.
 
Friday, Sept. 5
Radford vs. California, 12 p.m.
California vs. North Dakota State, 6:30 p.m.
Radford at New Mexico State, 9 p.m.
 
Saturday, Sept. 6
Radford vs. North Dakota State, 12 p.m.
California at New Mexico State, 4 p.m.
 
SCOUTING THE BEARS
Cal enters this weekend unbeaten at 3-0, marking the 11th time in the past 13 seasons the team has opened the season with that record. The Bears, who received votes in this week's AVCA poll, defeated SIU-Edwardsville (3-0), Winthrop (3-1) and Air Force (3-2) in Colorado Springs, Colo. last weekend.
 
Christina Higgins (an AVCA Second-Team All-American in 2013) and Ashten Smith-Gooden pace the Cal attack with three kills per set each. Alyssa Jensen is the Bears' primary setter, having dished out 138 assists so far this season. The sophomore already has two 50-assist matches to her credit. On the defensive side, Maddy Kerr racks up 3.33 digs per set and Lillian Schonewise averages one block per set. This will be the first meeting between the Highlanders and Cal. SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Radford encounters the powerhouse of the Western Athletic Conference for the first time in program history Friday night. New Mexico State is the two-time defending WAC champion and is predicted to win the league again in 2014. NMSU opened its season at the Utah Classic hosted by the Utes in Salt Lake City. The Aggies swept their season opener against Missouri State, before falling to Montana State (1-3) and Utah (0-3).
 
Outside hitter Bradley Nash leads the offense by uncorking 3.10 kills per set. NMSU runs a two-setter offense with Taylor Livoti (61 assists) and Ashlyn Brown (52 assists) carrying the workload. Defensively, Hannah Walker logs 4.10 digs per set and Gwen Murphy charts 1.20 blocks per set. Murphy was named to the Utah Classic all-tournament team last weekend. SCOUTING THE BISON
Another program the Highlanders will be meeting for the first time, North Dakota State is 1-2 on the year. The Bison were swept by Miami (Ohio) and Milwaukee, before outlasting Robert Morris in five sets in their season-opening tournament in Milwaukee, Wis.
 
Jenni Fassbender, an All-Summit League honoree in 2013, unleashes 3.55 kills per set. NDSU sets her often, as she has already taken 121 swings through three matches. Like New Mexico State, the Bison run a two-setter offense with Monica Claxton (67) and Brianna Rasmusson (42) leading the way. Emily Milligan averages 4.27 digs per set, while Emily Minnick has eight blocks to direct the defensive efforts. RECORDS ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN
A trio of Highlanders enter their senior campaigns with program records in their sights. Rachel Wiechecki, who became Radford's first AVCA all-region honoree last December, broke Divona Cox's rally-scoring kills record of 1,066 Tuesday night against N.C. Central.
 
In addition, Wiechecki became the program's sixth 1,000-1,000 performer at RU's season-opening tournament in Morehead, Ky. Wiechecki has accumulated 1,074 kills and 1,023 digs during her time at RU. She joined Anne Jackson, Anne Fontaine, Ami Orr, Katie Sherwood and Laura Marcuson as the only Highlanders to accomplish the milestone. Meanwhile, Emma Deininger is well within reach of the rally-scoring blocks record (378), which also belongs to Cox. Deininger, who is coming off a junior campaign where she set the single-season record (145), only needs 27 to eclipse the mark. Senior setter Jena Braden is climbing the rally-scoring era's Top-10 chart for assists. The New Knoxville, Ohio native currently has 2,323, which rank third in program history. ON DECK
For the third time in five days, Radford will play an opponent that qualified for the NCAA tournament last year when Hampton visits the Dedmon Center for Tuesday's 6 p.m. match inside the Dedmon Center.
 
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