RICHMOND, Ky. – It was a solid first day of the 2022 season for the Radford Volleyball team after it bested UT Martin, 3-2, and then fell to Eastern Kentucky, 3-0, inside Alumni Coliseum on Friday.
 
RADFORD vs. UT MARTIN RECAP
Trailing 2-0 after two sets, the Highlanders stormed all the way back to defeat UT Martin, 3-2, in an exhilarating season-opening match. The final score read as 22-25, 17-25, 25-23, 25-17, 15-12 to give Radford a 1-0 start to the year.
 
Clemson transfer Crystal Childs stole the show in her Radford debut, leading all players with 21 kills on a .304 hitting percentage. The Alpharetta, Ga. native tallied just 10 kills in all of 2021 and 21 kills during the entire 2020 season, with a single-match career high of nine kills. All signs point to her having finding a place where she can succeed on the court this year.
 
Taylor Jefferson gave the team a major boost off the bench with 13 kills while Grace Tulevech (12 kills) and Sophie Paspal (10 kills) also aided in the attack. This marks the first time Radford has had four players with 10+ kills in a single match since doing it in a 3-1 win over USC Upstate on Nov. 9, 2018.
 
Fiona Baker and true freshman Jackeline Nerro shared setter responsibilities, tallying 29 and 26 assists respectively. Shelby Hernandez led the team with 23 digs while Paspal played great defense with a game-high five blocks.
 
It was clear from the very first serve that this year's edition of Radford Volleyball would be much improved in Head Coach Sherisa Livingston's third year at the helm. The Highlanders and Skyhawks went back-and-forth all the way to a 19-all draw, but UTM pulled away to take the first set.
 
The second set wasn't quite as close as the Highlanders continued to search for their rhythm, but the tides turned in the third set. Another hotly contested battle reached a 22-all stalemate before Radford finished with three straight points to keep the match going.
 
 A .375 hitting percentage in that third set was just the beginning as Radford followed it up with a .457 hitting percentage in the fourth set, forcing a fifth and final chance at victory.
 
After falling behind 10-7, the Highlanders put together once final push that gave them a 13-11 lead. UT Martin called a timeout but their talk wouldn't be enough to keep Radford from closing out the win.
 
KEY STATS

• Five out of seven players in the Radford starting lineup were newcomers, marking the first time this new-look squad played together in an official match
• Radford recorded 65 kills in the match; the team only reached the 60+ kill mark three times during the 2021 season, showing just how much the squad has improved in a short amount of time
• Tori Britton and Taylor Jefferson each recorded one service ace
• The match featured 33 tied scores and 18 lead changes in what is believed to be the first five-set match in the entire Division I level of the NCAA this season

 
RADFORD vs. EASTERN KENTUCKY RECAP
All three sets were closely contended, but Radford came up just short in all three to drop its first match of the season in a 3-0 loss to Eastern Kentucky.
 
The long and short for this match was that errors hurt the Highlanders while the Colonels did well to limit their mistakes. Radford ended the three-set contest with 22 errors – the same amount they had in five sets earlier in the day – while EKU notched just 13 errors of their own.
 
Sophie Paspal was the most dangerous player on the court all night, leading all players with 12 kills and a .423 hitting percentage on 26 total attacks. Taylor Jefferson's breakout party continued with 11 kills of her own with a .250 hitting percentage while also adding 17 digs. The duo had double-digit kills in both games on the day.
 
The setter tandem of Fiona Baker and Jackeline Nerro once again split duties in the match and looked strong doing it. Baker ended the night with 22 assists and Nerro contributed 17 assists, helping the Highlanders earn a 45-to-35 advantage in the category versus EKU.
 
Shelby Hernandez led the team in digs for the second consecutive game with 22, while both Jefferson and freshman Kennedy Robinson each served a pair of aces.
 
KEY STATS

• Paspal recorded the only block of the game for Radford while Eastern Kentucky got up for seven blocks
• Tori Britton looks great again, recording seven kills on a very efficient .429 hitting percentage
• Crystal Childs added six more kills to her ledger, giving her 27 over the course of two matches on Friday

UP NEXT
The Highlanders play one final game at EKU's Colonel Classic when they take on IUPUI tomorrow, August 27^th at 11 am.
 
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