Highlanders Rally Back, Shock Bulldogs in Asheville

Friday, October 2

Asheville, NC

6:00 PM

Radford University

7-9,1-1Big South

UNC Asheville

13-5,1-1Big South

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Radford	20	25	25	25	3
UNC Asheville	25	14	20	20	1

Photo by: Matthew Maldonado

Highlanders Rally Back, Shock Bulldogs in Asheville

10/2/2026 8:49:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Like a goldfish, the Radford women's volleyball team needed to have a short memory after last week's tough performance at High Point. It was evident that they had put that loss behind them fully by the end of the match, winning the final three sets to take down a 13-win UNC Asheville squad 3-1 (20-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-20) on Friday night at the Justice Center.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Macie Potter led the offensive charge, as the freshman led all players with 15 kills on 29 attacks.
The Highlanders totaled 10 blocks, including five in the second set, to give UNC Ashville all sorts of problems in their attack.
Radford made just 13 attack errors to the Bulldogs' 21.
The Highlanders nearly hit above .300 in the match, settling with a .283 hitting percentage, and had a .323 hitting percentage in set one and .394 in set three.
Radford capitalized on 18 service errors by UNC Asheville, with nine of them coming in the fourth set along.
The Highlanders pick up their first win against UNC Asheville since the 2024 Big South Tournament.

THE BREAKDOWN
UNC Asheville put the pedal to the metal to start, scoring the first three points of the match. The Highlanders hung around through the middle part of the set but failed to get closer than two points from the Bulldogs lead. UNC Asheville went on a 6-0 run, and some timeouts taken by head coach Savanna Hammond failed to knock them off track, pulling their lead out to 20-11. A late burst by Radford got the score to 24-20 and forced a Bulldog timeout, and although it was too little too late, the positive momentum seemed to run into the second set.

Taryn Roberts started the second set off with a kill, and a few moments later, a block from Maja Bochenek got the Highlanders ahead by three points early. Potter got going with a kill a bit later, and Roberts joined Aubrey Hatch for another block to make it 11-7. Rose Whitemountain picked up both of her aces in the second set, and her second followed to extend Radford's lead to five. A UNC Asheville service error got Radford to 15 and the media break first (15-10), and Radford won back-to-back points to extend their lead to seven. Two more blocks and a birthday kill by Olivia Ryno made evened the sets at 1-1, with the Highlanders cruising to a 25-14 win in the second set.

Lydia Pate helped UNC Asheville go up early with two service aces in the first four points, and another run made it 6-2 Bulldogs to start the third set. Radford chipped into the deficit, then got a service ace by Potter to tie it at 10-10. A kill from Ryno and another from Hatch made it a 4-0 Radford run to go ahead 12-10 in the third set. Another four-point run with kills from Hatch, Potter, and Bochenek extended Radford's lead to 17-12 after the media break. A third four-point run came a bit later that gave the Highlanders a ton of momentum and a 21-14 advantage late in the set. The Bulldogs had too deep of a hole to dig themselves out of, giving the fired up Highlanders a set lead going to set four.

Needing to turn the tide, Radford's patience paid off to start set four. Of the Highlanders' first 15 points of the fourth set, eight came via UNC Asheville service errors. Hatch and Mia Jannazzo contributed with several aces of their own, and again Radford led by seven points late. UNC Asheville managed to claw the game back to 20-17 before the trifecta of Hatch, Cunnagin, and Bochenek won three-straight points to nearly put things away. Fittingly enough, Potter secured her 15th kill of the night to put the Bulldogs to bed and give the Highlanders a clutch win to start the weekend.

UP NEXT
Radford plays their second game of the weekend tomorrow at USC Upstate. The contest is set to start at 4:00 p.m. from Spartanburg.

STAY SOCIAL WITH RADFORD VOLLEYBALL
For all the latest on Radford Volleyball, be sure to follow the team on X (@RadfordVB), Instagram (@radfordvb), and "like" the team's official Facebook Page (Radford Volleyball).

#RiseAndDefend