Volleyball Splits Exciting Matches on Final Day of Appalachian State Invite

Saturday, August 28

Boone, NC

12:30 PM

Radford University

0-2,0-0Big South

Appalachian State

2-0,0-0Sun Belt

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Radford	22	23	26	25	4	2
App State	25	25	24	23	15	3

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Eastern Ky.	26	27	16	20	1
Radford	28	25	25	25	3

Volleyball Splits Exciting Matches on Final Day of Appalachian State Invite

8/28/2021 6:20:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BOONE, N.C. – The Radford volleyball team won it's first match of the season Saturday afternoon in the backend of a doubleheader. Radford dropped its first match against Appalachian State in an exciting 2-3 final but rebounded in a big way to pick up the 3-1 win over Eastern Kentucky.

In the first game of the day Radford was locked in an intense five set battle with Appalachian State. Each set came down to the wire, but Radford found itself in an 0-2 hole after dropping the first two sets by just a combined five points.

Morgan Lawson got off to a hot start with seven kills over the first two sets. Hailey Flowers also added six kills through the first two sets. Taylor Moore, playing in the Libero spot, also added two aces to help pace the Highlanders strong serving early in the day. The Highlanders committed just two service errors to the Mountaineers' six service errors through the first two sets.

Radford did not back down despite the early despite and would battle back to take each of the next two sets to force a fifth set. Kennedi Johnson burst alive during the third and fourth sets totaling eight kills and three block assists. Trinity Burge paced the offense with 14 assists while Emma Young and Grace Green combined for 25 digs.

Appalachian State would take the fifth set however, and escape with a victory. Radford would regroup and recover quickly before their next match against Eastern Kentucky began just over an hour after the conclusion of the first match.

Radford didn't show any sign of fatigue during the first set of their match against Eastern Kentucky as they would fight back from an early 1-4 deficit to take a lead they wouldn't give up in a back and forth set that ended in Highlander victory 28-26. Johnson capped her great first set with an ace to seal the win while also adding six kills which led the team. Emma Young also totaled five kills for Radford to help pace the offense.

Eastern Kentucky would fight back and take the second set 27-25 in a back-and-forth affair. The third set swung back to the Highlanders' favor in a major way as they would cruise to their easiest set of the weekend winning 25-16. Young and Johnson continued to rain down kills as both entered double digits during the third set.

The offensive intensity continued into the fourth set where the Highlanders would march to their first victory of the season. The set kept the theme of being back-and-forth but the Highlanders got multiple clutch kills from Emma Young and Kennedi Johnson late in the match. 18 of the team's 25 points in the final set came from kills, putting a bow on the great attack the Highlanders displayed against Eastern Kentucky.

KEY STATS

Radford served the ball well all day totaling 18 aces.
Login Williams recorded an impressive stat sheet against Appalachian State collecting three kills, 15 assists and 11 digs.
Against Appalachian State it was Johnson and Lawson who guided the offense as both recorded double-digit kills. Against Eastern Kentucky Radford got similar double-digit kill production from two different Highlanders in Samantha Reitz and Emma Young.
Trinity Burge exploded for 33 assists against Eastern Kentucky and finished the day with 56 total.

UP NEXT
Radford will travel to Morehead, Ky. for its next tournament with matches currently scheduled against Cleveland State, Evansville and Morehead State.

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