HIGHLANDERS OPEN BIG SOUTH PLAY WITH SWEEP OF HIGH POINT

Tuesday, September 20

RADFORD

7:00 PM

Radford University

10-3, 1-0BSC

High Point

9-5, 0-1BSC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
High Point	13	22	20	0
Radford	25	25	25	3

Photo by: Radford Athletics Communications

HIGHLANDERS OPEN BIG SOUTH PLAY WITH SWEEP OF HIGH POINT

9/20/2016 9:30:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

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MATCH INFORMATION

Score: Radford 3, High Point 0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-20)
Records: Radford (10-3, 1-0 Big South) | High Point (9-5, 0-1 Big South)
Location: Dedmon Center | Radford, Va.

RADFORD, Va. – Radford opened Big South play with a bang, sweeping conference preseason favorite High Point for the Highlanders third home sweep in a row, Tuesday night in front of an electric Dedmon Center crowd.

High Point opened the first set with a 7-3 lead, before a Sydney Tekstra kill and three Panther errors pulled the Highlanders within 8-7. Radford carried the momentum as Amaya Rousseau's fourth kill of the set gave RU a 15-11 lead.

Two kills by Mallory McKnight and one from Tekstra extended the RU lead to 19-13 as the Highlanders closed out the opening set on a 7-0 run for a 25-13 win. The run saw two aces off the hand of Kaylor Nash

The second set saw Radford open with a 4-0 lead, before the Panthers strung together a run of their own as Molly Livington connected for two kills and assisted on a block to knot the score at eight.

Radford and High Point traded points, before the Highlanders used four straight kills by reigning Big South Player of the Week Amaya Rousseau and Tekstra to take a commanding 18-12 lead. Tekstra aided the lead with three kills during the four-kill span.

High Point wasn't going to go down 2-0 without a fight as the Panthers rattled off a 6-1 run, cutting the deficit to 23-22. Radford settled down out of a timeout, using a Panther service error and Tekstra's fourth kill of the set for a 25-22 win to go into the break with a 2-0 advantage.

In what turned out to be the most thrilling set of the evening, High Point raced out to a 15-9 edge on 10 kills. Radford head coach Marci Jenkins chose not to call a timeout, letting her Highlanders battle back.

Slowly chipping away at the lead, Radford pulled within 17-16 on three straight High Point errors. The Highlanders took a 20-17 lead on a Maddie Palmer kill and three more Panther errors.

The final set saw Radford close out a 16-5 run with five straight points, including three consecutive kills by Palmer. RU took a 24-20 lead after Stephanie Neast and Rousseau blocked three consecutive High Point attacks. Neast finished off the Radford comeback with a solo block for the 25-20 clinching third set victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Radford ended the opening set on a 21-5 run, their largest of the season.
Maddie Palmer finished with a match-high 12 kills, giving her 11 double-digit kill matches on the season.
Amaya Rousseau finished with 10 kills in 18 attempts for a .500 attacking percentage.
Rousseau has 30 kills in her last three matches.
Rounding out the Radford attack, Sydney Tekstra finished with nine kills, her highest mark since Sept. 3.
Of Radford's 43 kills, Haley Kleespies assisted on 35, giving her 481 on the season.
Kaylor Nash finished with 12 digs and Kelby Jackson followed with 10.
Radford finished with nine blocks, giving them 29 in their last three matches and 90 on the year.
Stephanie Neast and Palmer finished with one solo block each.
Rousseau led the way with four assisted blocks.

QUOTABLE

"I thought the kids played really well. We had a gameplan and we stuck with it and we were able to battle. When we got down in set three the kids stuck with it and it was a really good win for us. The crowd was absolutely amazing tonight so it was good to be have that performance in front of them. It's just a great way to open up Big South play." ~ head coach Marci Jenkins

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