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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
Maddie Palmer and Amaya Rousseau Big South semis
Big South Sports Photos
1
Campbell CAM 16-16
3
Winner Radford RAD 24-5
Campbell CAM
16-16
1
Final
3
Radford RAD
24-5
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Campbell CAM 25 22 14 22 (1)
Radford RAD 23 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Volleyball |

RADFORD BATTLES PAST CAMPBELL INTO BIG SOUTH TITLE MATCH



MATCH INFORMATION
  • Score: Radford 3, Campbell 1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-22)
  • Records: Radford (24-5) | Campbell (16-16)
  • Big South Tournament Semifinal
  • Location: Vines Center | Lynchburg, Va.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – For the third time in four years, the Radford volleyball team will play for the Big South Tournament championship, after taking the final three sets to post a 3-1 victory over fourth-seeded Campbell Saturday in a hard-fought semifinal match.

Maddie Palmer led the way for the top-seeded Highlanders with a career-high 26 kills, while Amaya Rousseau had a career-best nine blocks and four players contributed double-digit dig totals.

Radford got off to a slow start in the match, falling behind 13-6 in the first set as Campbell came out strong defensively. However, the Highlanders rallied back into a position to pull it out late. Radford won six of seven points to take a 22-21 edge, its first lead since the opening point. Campbell, though, took the final three points on a kill, a Radford attack error and an ace by Kayla Schanback to claim the 1-0 lead.

The Highlanders started better in the second, taking a 6-1 advantage. However, Campbell worked its way back and used a 5-0 run to take a 16-14 edge. The Fighting Camels led by one before Radford turned the tables from the first set and scored the last four points to even the match. Palmer came up big in the clutch with three kills, including the last two points following a Campbell timeout.

The intermission didn't slow the Highlanders' momentum as they tallied 12 of the first 15 points in the third set to take command. Rousseau had a kill and combined on two blocks, Palmer recorded back-to-back aces and added a kill and Stephanie Neast had a block and two kills, with one of the latter making it 12-3. Later, two more Palmer kills around an ace by Emma Wroblicky boosted the lead to 18-5. It was 22-13 before the Highlanders closed it out with three of the last four points.

Radford used a three-point run early in the fourth, with Neast and Rousseau combining for a rejection and Neast following with a kill. The Fighting Camels battled back to even it a 9-9, but the Highlanders responded with a 5-0 run to regain control. Mallory McKnight and Palmer each had a kill and Campbell committed three attack errors. The Camels refused to go away easily, though, using three kills and a block for four straight points to close the deficit to 21-20. However, Sydney Tekstra responded to end the run with a kill. Palmer delivered her final kill of the match to make it 23-21 and an attack error brought Radford to match point. Campbell saved one, but Rousseau and Haley Kleespies combined for the block to finish it off.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Palmer was consistent from start to finish, recording seven kills in three of the sets and five in the other. She hit .281 overall, while adding 15 digs for her 18th double-double of the season.
  • Palmer now has 473 kills on the season, just 13 away from equaling Katie Sherwood's 2001 total for second-most in program history.
  • Rousseau had seven of her blocks in the final two sets, including five in the fourth, to surpass her previous season-high by one. She also had six kills.
  • Neast contineud her strong play late in the regular season, contributing seven kills on .316 hitting, while adding five blocks.
  • Tekstra added 11 kills, surpassing double figures for the eighth time of the season and seventh against a Big South team.
  • Kelby Jackson led the balanced back row defense with 21 digs, while Kleespies added 16, Kaylor Nash contributed 12 and Wroblicky chipped in seven as the team finished with 79, 10 more than than Campbell.
  • Kleespies dished out 49 assists to notch her 10th double-double of the year
  • After hitting just .125 in the opening set, Radford used back-to-back .214 performances in the third and fourth to finish at .173 for the match.
  • On the other side, Campbell hit .222 in its first set win, but finished at just .105 overall. The Highlanders held the Camels below .100 in the second and third sets.
  • Radford improved to 4-3 this season when losing the opening set, with two of the wins coming over Campbell.
 
 QUOTABLE
  • "I thought we came out a little rusty after being off for slow long and it took us a while to get going. Toward the end of the first set we finally got in a little bit of a groove. It was just too late to overcome the big deficit. But then in sets two, three ad four, we did a good job of doing the things that we needed to do. We blocked better, even when we weren't blocking balls to the floor we were touching balls and able to run them down and stay in system. Maddie was awesome tonight, Syd had 11 kills and Stephanie Neast as well was great. She was the difference-maker over their trying to slow down their left-side attack down. All in all, it was nice to get ourselves in a rhythm so hopefully tomorrow we won't come out slow and we'll be ready to go. " ~ Radford head coach, Marci Jenkins
 
UP NEXT
  • Radford will play for its sixth Big South Tournament Championship against No. 3 High Point in Sunday's title match. First serve is set for 4 p.m. on ESPN3.
  • High Point advanced by beating No. 2 Liberty in five sets.
  • The teams split during the regular season with each winning at home. Radford won in a sweep, while High Point took a four-set decision.
 
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