FIRST-PLACE HIGHLANDERS HOST LIBERTY TUESDAY NIGHT

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SETTING THE STAGE

The Radford volleyball team puts its unbeaten Big South record on the line as it welcomes in-state rival Liberty to the Dedmon Center for another key match Tuesday night. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
Picked third in the league's preseason poll, the Highlanders have already knocked off preseason favorite High Point and now face a Liberty team that was picked second.
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HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

Records: 12-3, 3-0 Big South
Radford is 3-0 in the conference for the first time since the 2001 team finished the regular season 14-0.
Tuesday's match caps a start to league play in which the Highlanders face each of the other three teams picked among the top four in the preseason poll over their first four matches.
RU is now 11-0 with nine sweeps when winning the first set.
Maddie Palmer totaled 41 kills in the three victories last week and now has a Big South-leading 213 on the season (4.10 per set). She also recorded eight aces, equaling Haley Kleespies for team-high honors for the year with 24, tied for sixth in the league.
Kleespies dished out 105 assists, giving her 551 for the year and maintaining her conference-leading per set average, now at 10.60.
Sydney Tekstra was second on the team with 24 kills in the three matches, just ahead of Amaya Rousseau with 23. Mallory McKnight added 19 kills and a team-high 11 blocks.
For the season, McKnight has 110 kills, Rousseau 84 and Tekstra 81.
Rousseau ranks seventh in the conference in blocks per set (0.98), totaling 43 on the year.
Kelby Jackson compiled 41 digs last week, upping her team-leading total to 191. She is seventh in the league with 3.67 per set.
Valerie Gonzalez is coming off of her first double-digit kill outing of the season, recording 10 against Campbell.
Radford hit .209 in the three matches, while holding the opponents to a combined .132. The Highlanders continue to lead the Big South in both categories for the season.

SCOUTING LIBERTY

Records: 5-8, 0-1 Big South
Liberty suffered a four-set loss at High Point in its conference opener and only match last week. The Flames won the second set 25-17, but dropped the final two 25-19 and 25-23. They hit just .109 in the contest.
For the season, Liberty ranks just seventh in the Big South in hitting (.166), but is second to Radford in opponents' hitting at .154.
The Flames lead the conference in blocks per set at 2.57, with middle blockers Sirena Vorster and Anna Cragg ranking second and third individually. The two have combined for an even 100 rejections on the season.
Freshman right-side Casey Goodwin leads the offensive attack with 121 kills (2.69 per set), while ranking fifth in the league in aces per set.
Fellow freshman Cragg ranks fourth in the conference with a .291 hitting percentage, while recording 73 kills. Sydney Morries and Gabrielle Vess have 92 and 83 kills, respectively.
Anna Willey, the lone setter on preseason all-conference team, has 305 assists on the season, but is not among the top 10 in per set average, splitting the work with freshman Hannah Morris, who has 160.
Margaret Latchford, an All-Freshman Team member last year, leads the team in digs with 147 (3.20 per set).

SERIES HISTORY

The teams are meeting for the 75th time, with Liberty holding a 44-30 lead, although Radford has won five of the last eight.
Last year, after the rivals exchanged road wins during the regular season, the Highlanders rallied from 0-2 down to oust the Flames in the Big South quarterfinals.

UP NEXT

Radford plays just one match this weekend, traveling to UNC Asheville for a Saturday afternoon matchup scheduled for 4 p.m.

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