MAMIC SPARKS RADFORD TO SWEEP OF GARDNER-WEBB

Friday, October 21

Boiling Springs, N.C.

7:00 PM

Radford University

17-4, 8-1

Gardner-Webb

11-13, 1-8

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Radford	25	25	25	3
Gardner-Webb	19	19	12	0

Photo by: Red Rocket Productions & Photography

10/21/2016 9:22:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Follow @RadfordVB

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The Radford volleyball team opened the second half of its conference schedule the same way it did the first – with a sweep, as it cruised to a 25-19, 25-19 victory over Gardner-Webb Friday night.

Making her first career start, redshirt sophomore Lidija Mamic recorded a career-high 14 kills as the Highlanders improved to 17-4 and 8-1 in the Big South. Radford took control of the first two sets with runs midway through and then dominated the third to post their 11th sweep of the year.

Trailing 10-8 in the opener, the Highlanders went on a 9-3 spurt to build a four-point advantage. Mamic got it going with two kills, Valerie Gonzalez added a pair, Maddie Palmer and Amaya Rousseau each chipped in one and Haley Kleespies contributed an ace. After Gardner-Webb closed within one, Radford tallied the last five points to take the game, capped by Mamic's fourth kill.

The early part of the second set was tight, with Radford holding a 13-12 edge before scoring four in a row on an attack error, two kills by Mamic and a combined block by Mamic and Gonzalez. The Highlanders stayed in front by at least three before closing it out on an ace by Maddie Palmer.

Coming out of the break, Radford stormed out to a 10-1 in the third, forcing Gardner-Webb into two early timeouts. Palmer had two kills, Gonzalez recorded one and the Highlanders took advantage of five Runnin Bulldogs' attack errors. GWU only got as close a six points the rest of the way and Radford again scored five in a row to end the set and the match. Mamic recorded her final two kills, she and Sydney Tekstra combined for a block and a Tekstra kill finished it.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Seeing her first action since Sept. 23, Lidija Mamic showed no rust, posting her 14 kills on just 17 attacks with just one error for an amazing .765 hitting percentage.
Her previous high kills total was six in the second match of the season against Norfolk State. She also had a career-high four blocks Friday, with two solo and two assists.
Maddie Palmer was also efficient, totaling 17 kills with just one error and hitting .500. She added six digs.
Mamic and Palmer combined for 35.5 of the Highlanders 53 points.
Radford hit .309 in the match, including performances of .324 and .370 in the first and third sets. In the teams' first meeting, the Highlanders had a .206 percentage.
Haley Kleespies dished out 33 assists, while recording two aces.
Career digs leader Kelby Jackson added 10 more to her total, extending her streak of double-digit outings to 12 matches.
Amaya Rousseau led the way in blocks with three, while Gonzalez added a pair.
Radford held Gardner-Webb to just .099 hitting in the match, as the Highlanders won the kill battle 43-29.
The Highlanders returned to their winning ways when taking the opening set, improving to 14-1.

QUOTABLE

"Lidija did a great job in her first start of the season. She and Maddie were both very good tonight. Defensively, we were able to stay relatively in system so that was huge as well. " ~ Radford head coach, Marci Jenkins

UP NEXT