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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
KleespieS
3
Winner Radford RAD 9-1
2
ETSU ETSU 3-7
Winner
Radford RAD
9-1
3
Final
2
ETSU ETSU
3-7
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Radford RAD 17 22 25 25 15 (3)
ETSU ETSU 25 25 22 17 12 (2)
3
Winner Radford RAD 10-1
0
Virginia Tech VT 6-4
Winner
Radford RAD
10-1
3
Final
0
Virginia Tech VT
6-4
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Radford RAD 25 25 25 (3)
Virginia Tech VT 16 23 20 (0)

Game Recap: Volleyball |

CAREER MATCHES FROM GONZALEZ AND KLEESPIES GIVES RADFORD TWO WINS AT HOKIE INVITATIONAL



BLACKSBURG, Va. – Valerie Gonzalez totaled a career-high 23 kills and hit .362 in the first match against ETSU and Haley Kleespies tallied a career-most seven kills in a sweep of Virginia Tech that gave Radford two wins at the Hokie Invitational sponsored by the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Christiansburg on Friday at Carillon Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum.
 
MATCH 1 INFORMATION
Score: Radford 3, ETSU 2 (17-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-17, 15-12)
Records: Highlanders (9-1) | Buccaneers (3-7)
Location: Blacksburg, Va. (Carillon Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum)
 
Radford (9-1) was three points away from dropping the first match in three sets as the score was 22-19 in favor of East Tennessee State (3-7), but six straight Highlander points gave Radford the third set victory, 25-22. During the run the Buccaneers made four attack errors, while the Highlanders had a kill from Gonzalez and a service ace by Mallory McKnight.
 
This sparked the Highlanders as the fourth set was all Radford as Maddie Palmer and Gonzalez combined for 11 of the 15 kills. The Highlanders hit .343 in the set and only made three errors. The set opened with a 9-3 Radford run behind the serves of Alyssa Carruth early on. Eventually the Highlanders went up 18-9 forcing the Bucs to use their final timeout.
 
ETSU outscored Radford, 8-7, in the final 15 points (24-17), but a kill by Palmer tied the match at two sets apiece. The fifth set saw five ties for the first 10 points but two attack errors with a Palmer service ace gave Radford an 8-5 lead. Both teams scored five points and ETSU cut the Highlander lead to one, 13-12, with two kills. Stephanie Neast's eighth kill and her fourth total block gave Radford the come-from-behind victory.
 
The match began with the Highlanders falling in the first set, 25-17, as they had only a .081 hitting percentage in the set. Radford came back a little stronger with 15 kills in the second set but made eight errors and fell, 25-22. Radford made 17 attack errors in the first two sets and ETSU combined for 26 kills.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
•  Valerie Gonzalez totaled a career-high 23 kills and hit .362 in the five set victory. She contributed seven digs as well.
•  Haley Kleespies picked up another double-double as she had 44 assists and 11 digs. The junior was tied for the team lead with three service aces.
•  Maddie Palmer recorded another double-double and had 20 kills with 22 digs. It was the second time in her career with 20 plus kills and 20 plus digs. The senior last accomplished the feat with 21 kills and 21 digs against Princeton in 2015.
•  Alyssa Carruth recorded a career-high 21 of Radford's 87 total digs in the win.
•  Radford had 10 service aces as Kleespies and Palmer combined for six with three each.
•  The Highlanders only had eight blocks, whereas the Buccaneers had 13. However, Radford outhit ETSU .166 to .125 and had 58 kills compared to 53.
 
MATCH 2 INFORMATION
Score: Radford 3, Virginia Tech 2 (25-16, 25-23, 25-20)
Records: Highlanders (10-1) | Hokies (6-4)
Location: Blacksburg, Va. (Carillon Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum)
 
Virginia Tech took an early 2-0 lead in the first set, but Radford (10-1) scored five straight and garnering a 5-2 lead. The Hokies regained the lead once but the Highlanders came back and tied the set at nine before continuing the run. A Haley Kleespies kill began the 4-0 run forcing the Hokies to call a timeout with the score 12-9.
 
Another mini 6-3 run forced the Hokies to call their final timeout with the score 18-12. Alyssa Carruth maintained serve four more times as two Hokie attack errors and two Highlander kills set the score at 21-14. Radford outscored the Hokies 4-2 to go ahead one set to none.
 
The Hokies came out on fire in the second set and led by as many as seven with a 12-5 lead. Radford kept chipping away and cut the Tech lead to three, 13-10. Mallory McKnight cut the deficit to one with a kill and tied the set at 18 with a service ace.
 
Radford took the lead, 20-19, on a Stacey Christy attack error, which forced the Hokies to call a timeout. The Highlanders never lost the lead, but the Hokies tied the set at 23. Stephanie Neast's eighth kill of the match and another Hokie attack error gave Radford a two set lead, 25-23.
 
The third set was back and forth with five ties early. The set was tied at 11 and would be the last time the two teams were tied. The Highlanders went on a 5-0 run and took control, 16-11. Amaya Rousseau maintained the five point lead with a kill making it 19-14.
 
Maddie Palmer increased the lead to seven points with a kill. With the score 22-15, the Hokies went on a 5-2 run but Gonzlez capped her performance with a kill that sealed the 3-0 victory, 25-20, crowning Radford champions of the New River Valley.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
•  Radford picked up its first win over Virginia Tech in 16 years. The Highlanders defeated the Hokies twice in 2001 both coming in three sets.
•  Setter Haley Kleespies picked up a career-high seven kills and tallied an .875 hitting percentage.
•  Kleespies also led all players with 28 assists and added a team-high two service aces.
•  Stephanie Neast recorded her second career double-double as both have come against Power Five opponents. Neast had 12 kills and 11 digs, while hitting .360 against Tech.
•  Alyssa Carruth was one of three players with a team-high 11 digs. Neast and Maddie Palmer were the other two.
•  Palmer was second on the team with eight kills and one service ace.
•  The Highlanders held the Hokies to a -.010 hitting percentage and had 16 more kills, 39-23.
•  Virginia Tech had more attack errors (24) than kills (23) and committed three service errors, two block errors and two ball-handling errors.
•  It's the seventh win over a Power Five opponent since 2014 and the first time since 2001 Radford has three Power Five wins.

QUOTABLE
"This was a great win to cap off the non-conference schedule. I was hoping that this was going to get us ready for conference play and I think it has. When conference begins we are 0-0. We have to handle our business and get better." ~ Marci Jenkins
 
UP NEXT
Conference play begins on Tuesday as Radford travels to Rock Hill, S.C., to take on Winthrop. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.

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