CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—The Radford women's volleyball team took on Colgate to open the Carolina Classic Friday night on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. The Highlanders took the opening set from the Raiders, whom finished the contest in a 3-1 victory.
 
SET ONE 
Radford tallied the first points of the night, starting the match off right with an efficient defense stand against Colgate, which caused a Raider mishap resulting in an attack error. After tying the set at 13, thanks to an imperative block assist via Stephanie Neast and Mallory McKnight, the Highlanders put together an impressive rally to distance themselves from the opposition. A Morgan Goodman kill would be all that Colgate's coaching staff needed to see before calling a timeout. Goodman didn't let the stoppage of play slow her down, notching a kill immediately following the timeout. 
 
The Raiders strung together a couple of points here and there to stay relevant but couldn't get close enough to the cruising Highlanders. The final five points belonged to Radford despite Colgate's efforts to ice their momentum calling a timeout after the 22nd point. 
 
SET TWO 
The Highlanders battled the Raiders tightly in this set maintaining a close presence to them. The back-and-forth set went down to the wire as Radford battled back into contention starting yet again with their defense to get within two points of Colgate. A Goodman service ace paired with two kills from Hailey Flowers propelled the Highlanders ahead of the Raiders. However, Colgate retook the lead from Radford at 23-22 and made their way to 25. 
 
SET THREE
Radford posted the opening points via a Colgate miscue and a striking kill from Neast. The Highlanders pushed ahead of the Raiders, who later put together a rally to shift not only the momentum but final set score in their favor. Samantha Reitz tallied Radford's final point in the set with a kill setup by Maddie Lentz. 
 
SET FOUR 
The fourth and ultimately deciding set saw only one tie in the opening moments, and eventually Colgate pulled away from Radford with a final set score of 25-15. 
 
STAT LEADERS 
Flowers has been on fire lately and has posted a season high in kills at 11 for three games straight. Reitz and Neast posted nine and eight kills respectively. Several Highlanders tallied aces on the afternoon in McKnight, Goodman, and Taylor Moore. Lentz led the way for Radford with 25 assists while Goodman notched 22 digs.
 
UP NEXT 
Radford will retake the court for day two of the Carolina Classic to battle with in-state foe VCU and host UNC-Chapel Hill at 10:00 a.m. and 6:39 p.m. respectively. The match versus UNC-Chapel can be viewed on ACC Network Extra. 
 
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