CHARLESTON, S.C. – Nearly forcing a deciding fifth set with a furious comeback effort, the Radford volleyball team came up short in a 3-1 loss to Charleston Southern at the Buccaneer Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon.
The loss bumps the Highlanders' Big South record down to 5-7 while Charleston Southern improves to 5-7 and secures the tiebreaker. There are four games left to play in the regular season and the top four teams in the standings make the conference tournament.
A balanced offensive attack was the key to Radford's effort in the match, with 10 different players recording at least one kill. Sophomore
Sophie Paspal led the team with eight kills on 13 attack attempts for a .286 hitting percentage.
Tytianna Roberts (7 kills, .278 H%),
Madison Monahan (7 kills) and
Grace Tulevech (6 kills, .267 H%) were right behind her. Per usual,
Jackeline Nerro and
Fiona Baker were their main distributers with 19 and 15 assists, respectively.
The Bucs came out firing on all cylinders, taking a 2-0 lead with a 25-16 win the first set and a 25-19 decision in the second set.
With everything left to play for this season, the Highlanders picked themselves back up and fought their way to a 25-21 victory in the third set to stay alive. The ladies in red and white appeared to be on their way to a fourth-set win as well, but a 21-18 lead was erased in the waning moments of the match and CSU walked off the court with the win.
KEY STATS
- Radford earned a 15.0-to-7.0 advantage in total blocks, with Tori Britton being involved in four of them
- Shelby Hernandez (15 digs) and Nerro (12 digs) helped the Highlanders grab a 54-to-46 advantage in digs as well
- A total of 26 errors really hurt Radford, leading to a .127 hitting percentage compared to .252 for the Bucs
AROUND THE BIG SOUTH
Campbell 3, Presbyterian 0
High Point 3, Winthrop 1
UP NEXT
Road matches at conference-leaders High Point (Friday, Nov. 4 at 6pm) and Campbell (Saturday, Nov. 5 at 2pm) are up next on the schedule.
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