CHARLESTON, S.C.—In their fourth Big South Conference matchup, Radford battled back into contention in the Friday night five set thriller against Charleston Southern, falling late 3-2. The Highlanders took the opening set as well as the fourth to force a decisive final set.
SET ONE
Stephanie Neast notched the first points for Radford which was followed by Hailey Flower's service ace, to take the early 2-1 lead over Charleston Southern. Both teams used the opening set as a way to size up one another, with neither being able to mount a significant lead over the other. Brief rallies and rushes of points, kept a swing of momentum at bay.
Charleston Southern tied the set up at 11 all via service ace, but the tick-for-tack match saw Radford come right back to tie it points later via a Neast kill. The Highlanders then added several points to increase the distance between them and the Buccaneers at 15-12. The lead would continue to hold despite Charleston Southern giving Radford a bit of a scare down the stretch. Neast and an offensive hiccup for the Buccaneers sealed the opening set victory for the Highlanders at 26-24.
SET TWO
The back-and-forth flow of this contest didn't really allow either team to set a determined pace. However, Radford opened with a pair of points thanks to a
Maddie Lentz service ace and a Charleston Southern attack error. The Buccaneers responded but the Highlanders were already packing on the points with a 7-3 swing in their favor.
Charleston Southern wouldn't go quietly, positioning themselves constantly within a point of their opposition. The tide turned in favor of the Buccaneers at 12-11, when they retook the lead from the Highlanders. Radford stayed close, being able to put short rallies together to stay in it but Charleston Southern walled off the comeback with a block assist on set point, 25-22.
SET THREE
The Buccaneers got out to a fairly hot start, with their greatest lead over the Highlanders being six points, 11-4. The deficit became too much to handle as the set came down to the wire with Charleston Southern eventually notching the set 25-18.
SET FOUR
Radford would not sent home as easily as their conference foes would've hoped for. After conceding the initial point, the Highlanders put that in their rearview and picked up four points with an efficient mixture of offense and defense. Kills came via Neast and
Jordan Coomes, with block assists from Neast and
Mackenzie Meehan.
Charleston Southern got within striking distance of Radford after the 20-point mark. Neast increased the Highlander lead by one with a booming kill into Buccaneer territory. She came right back with a pair moments later, which was aided by the Charleston Southern attack error to push the lead out to 24-20. The Buccaneers responded with several points of their own, but the closing remarks on this set would come from none other than Neast.
Radford had evened the match at two sets a piece and forced Charleston Southern to a decisive fifth and final set.
SET FIVE
The ever present Neast, put her team on the board first with a striking kill set up from Lentz. Much like the previous stanzas, this set followed the same point-for-point pattern. After playing from a point behind,
Samantha Reitz propelled her team into the tie at four all. Coomes and Lentz followed her lead and sent offerings up for Radford to take the 6-4 lead.
Down the line Reitz tied the set up for the Highlanders again at seven all, then Meehan at eight. The Buccaneers were able to capitalized on a Radford miscue and finished the race to 15, to the Highlander's eight.
STAT OF THE MATCH
Neast picked up her second double-double of the 2019 campaign tallying 20 kills and 10 digs. Her 20 clutch kills also served as a season high. She added a trio of service aces to her contribution on the night.
TEAM LEADERS
Meehan (nine) and Coomes (seven) worked in tandem with Neast to lead the way in kills. Lentz was an assist machine with 35 on the night, a season high. Neast,
Esmadar Tavares, Lentzs, and Flowers all notched service aces. Radford had four tally double-digit digs in
Grace Green (18),
Taylor O'Neal (13), in addition to Coomes and Neast adding 10 of their own.
TWEET OF THE MATCH
UP NEXT
Radford will continue their four-game road trip, making their next stop at Presbyterian on Saturday, Oct. 12th at 4:00 p.m. There will be no live stream tomorrow, only live stats will be available.
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