Volleyball Sweeps Rider in Early Morning Match for Hertel’s First Win

Saturday, August 31

Philadelphia, Pa.

9:30 AM

Radford University

1-2,0-0Big South

Rider

0-2,0-0MAAC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Rider	17	14	17	0
Radford	25	25	25	3

Photo by: Robert Simmons

Volleyball Sweeps Rider in Early Morning Match for Hertel’s First Win

8/31/2024 11:13:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Radford volleyball program responded in a big way Saturday morning sweeping Rider 3-0 in their final match at the Cherry & White Challenge. The victory marks the first in head coach Chris Hertel's tenure.

KEY STATS

Radford's blocking was a key part in the win as the team totaled six in the match, their best mark of the weekend.
Radford's 18-4 lead during the second set is their largest score margin in a set this season.
Sophie Paspal (12 kills) and Sydney Mundkowsky (12 kills) stayed hot reaching double digit kill totals once again.
The Highlanders defensive effort was stifling for the Broncos as they hit -0.059 during the match.
Julia Slivka just missed a double-double tallying 21 assists and 8 digs.

PLAY BY PLAY
The Highlanders wasted no time putting their best foot forward this morning despite a tight turn around after playing late into Friday night. Radford went up 7-2 early in the first set thanks a slew of attack errors from the Broncos.

Radford would keep that advantage throughout the first set, never letting Rider come closer than 2 points of their lead. Up 19-15, Radford got a 4-0 run to fully pull away before sealing the first set 25-17. Radford took two of three opening sets against their competition this weekend.

The intensity continued into the second set as Radford sprinted out to a 7-0 lead. That margin grew to as large as 18-4 allowing Radford to cruise to a big 2-0 advantage in the match winning the second set 25-14.

Looking to close things out, the third set wound up much closer between the two teams. Radford led 12-9 but Rider responded with a 5-0 run to briefly retake a lead. Out of a timeout, Radford responded incredibly well going on a huge 7-0 run to go back up 19-14.

That margin allowed Radford to hold on and close the match with three straight points completing the 3-0 sweep with a 25-17 win in the final set.

NOTABLES

After coming up just short last night, Hertel left no doubt in today's match for his first career victory as a head coach at the Division I level.
Radford's last sweep on a neutral court came on September 14th, 2019, against Lehigh, also in Philadelphia, Pa.
The win is the first for the Highlanders in program history over Rider, the two squads had only met once before back in 2019.
Mundkowsky finishes the weekend with an impressive 49 kills, already just 30 kills away from her single season career high.

AROUND THE BIG SOUTH

Charleston Southern fell to a tough UTRGV squad in another early morning match-up 3-0.
Gardner-Webb takes on Lamar in a Saturday morning match.
USC Upstate finalizes their weekend later today with a match against UNC Greensboro at 2 p.m.
Presbyterian continues their weekend facing Delaware State at 4 p.m.
High Point looks to remain unbeaten when they face BYU at 9 p.m. later tonight.

UP NEXT
The Highlanders hit the road again next weekend to compete in the Geri Polvino Invitational in Richmond, Ky. Action begins on September 6th with a pair of matches against Youngstown State and Eastern Kentucky.

FOLLOW RADFORD VOLLEYBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on the Radford volleyball team follow @RadfordVB on X and Instagram or Radford Volleyball on Facebook.