Volleyball 9/7/2018 8:59:00 PM

KLEESPIES MAKES HISTORY; HIGHLANDERS TOP SFU AND PENN

BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 Follow @RadfordVB

PHILADELPHIA – Senior setter Haley Kleespies made history to help the Radford volleyball team earn wins over Saint Francis (Pa.) and Penn at the Valley Forge Sports Invitational on Friday.

One of the Penn announcers said, "Kleespies shows her mastery of the game over and over again. She moves the ball around to her teammates like a genius." It may be hard to argue with him now that Kleespies has reached 3,662 career assists, surpassing Josie Hanners's (2004-07) career total of 3,654 to become the all-time program leader in the rally scoring era.

In two matches, the West Grove, Pa. native found her teammates for a combined 68 assists on the day, orchestrating two tightly contested victories. With the wins, the Highlanders improve to 7-1 on the season and improve their winning streak to four.

MATCH ONE – Radford vs. Saint Francis (Pa.)

Radford used a well-balanced attack and strong defense at the net to earn a 3-0 sweep of Saint Francis. Eight different Highlanders contributed multiple kills, led by junior Mallory McKnight who had nine. Freshman Taylor O'Neal was a part of five blocks, helping Radford finish with 9.0 total blocks to just 2.0 for SFU.

Kleespies continued her excellent start to the season with a great all-around match. She finished with a season-high eight kills, a .636 hitting percentage, 27 assists, seven digs and four service aces.

It wasn't a pretty match for either side on the offensive end, however. Radford finished with a .205 hitting percentage while SFU hit just .105 and the two clubs combined for 39 attack errors. No member of the Red Flash managed a hitting percentage of over .333 while the Highlanders boasted four players above that mark.

Freshman libero Grace Green helped Radford control the Red Flash with a game-high 19 digs. Sophomore Alyssa Carruth came off the bench to add eight digs of her own.

SET 1: The Highlanders were tested right away as the Red Flash jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held onto that advantage for quite a while. Radford kept chipping away though, and eventually tied things up at 16-16 thanks to a Tuxford kill. The game went back-and-forth from there, even reaching 22-22, but the Highlanders finished on a 3-0 run to complete the comeback. Seven errors by SFU and three total blocks from Radford made a big difference.

SET 2: The momentum gained at the end of Set 1 carried over into the second set as Radford bolted ahead for a 6-2 lead, forcing a Saint Francis timeout. The Red Flash battled their way back to draw even midway through the set and again at 20-20, but errors once again hampered their hopes of snatching a win. It was a sloppy set overall as both teams finished with nine errors each. The Highlanders only hit .088, but the Red Flash's hitting percentage ended at -.097.

SET 3: Both teams improved offensively in the final set, but the score line went in favor of Radford yet again at 25-20. Kleespies set the tone early with back-to-back service aces to take a lead that the Highlanders would keep for nearly the entire set. An 8-2 run to put Radford up 21-13 was answered by the Red Flash with a 5-0 run of their own, but it was too little, too late. A match-best .263 hitting percentage and 15 kills were enough to close out the victory.

MATCH TWO – Radford vs. Penn

Keeping with their M.O. all season, the Highlanders showed tons of toughness and determination to come back after dropping the first set for a 3-1 victory.

With a 137-127 advantage in attack attempts, Radford finished with 55 kills and a .212 hitting percentage compared to just 39 and .126 for Penn. Blocks finished relatively even at 10.0-9.0 in favor of Radford while the Quakers piled up nine service aces.

Stephanie Neast and Mallory McKnight were on fire on offense, collecting 16 and 14 kills respectively. The duo posted very good hitting percentages at .375 and .522 as well. Kleespies reached 41 assists, Green and Gonzalez each had 12 digs, and three different Highlanders had four or more blocks.

SET 1: Radford's streak of nine straight sets won was snapped right away by the Quakers, who managed to protect a narrow lead for a 25-23 win. The Highlanders strung together four straight points to tie it at 23-23, but Penn closed it out. The two sides tied in kills (12), digs (8), and service aces (2), but Radford committed eight attack errors to only four for Penn. The Quakers' .286 hitting percentage against the Highlanders' .133 proved to be enough of an edge to earn the first victory.

SET 2: It took an entire team effort by the Highlanders to win set two over Quakers squad that continued to show it was up to the task. Radford put together a strong .294 hitting percentage and collected 15 kills compared to 11 for Penn. Even Coach Byers got in on the action as she challenged two plays and the video review gave Radford the point both times. Neast and McKnight both bumped their kill totals up to eight while every single player contributed to the digs category.

SET 3: The Highlanders dominated the third set, flying out to a 6-0 lead that forced a timeout from Penn. The breather didn't help the Quakers much though, as Radford proceeded to stretch its lead and eventually earn a 25-18 victory to go ahead 2-1. It was a block party for the Highlanders, who got up for five total blocks and held Penn to a .000 hitting percentage. Neast was a huge part of her team's success as she tallied four kills and three blocks on her own.

SET 4: The fourth set began just like the third with the Highlanders taking an early 6-0 lead. Radford showed off its ability to completely control the net as the lead grew to 12-1, but Penn finally woke up and came charging back. A monster 15-3 run put the Quakers ahead just when everyone thought they were out of it. Grace Green helped the Highlanders get back on track with a 7-0 run on her serves, but Haley Kleespies stole the show as she set the Radford all-time assists record when her 34^th assist of the night was hammered home by fellow senior Valerie Gonzalez.

TWEET OF THE MATCH

There it is!!! Haley Kleespies sets a program record for career assists at Radford with 3,655. Congratulations, Haley!#RiseAndDefend | #BigSouthVB pic.twitter.com/7ZHhn4BpJL
— Radford Volleyball (@RadfordVB) September 8, 2018

QUOTABLE
"We fought through two tough matches today and in the end I know it's making us a better team. Mal and Steph were huge in our match vs. Penn and having Haley break the all-time assists record so early in her senior season is amazing! We are all so very proud of her and the growth shes made on the court over the years. We will try to continue to get better point by point!" - Head Coach Marci Byers

UP NEXT
Radford returns to The Palestra for one more match in the Valley Forge Sports Invitational. The Highlanders will take on Lehigh (8-0) at 1:30 pm. The two sides met last year with Radford taking a 3-0 sweep over the Mountain Hawks.

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