Volleyball Cruises Past Buccaneers Behind Shepherd’s Big Night

Friday, October 30

Radford, Va.

6:00 PM

Radford University

13-11,7-3Big South

Charleston Southern

11-12,3-7Big South

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Charleston So.	17	20	22	0
Radford	25	25	25	3

Photo by: Matthew Maldonado

10/30/2026 8:23:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

RADFORD, Va. – Radford continued its hot streak Friday night with a dominant 3-0 sweep over Charleston Southern thanks in part to Ela Shepherd's season-high night.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Shepherd led Radford's offense blowing past her previous game high for kills with 12 tonight. Just last week she tied her season high with seven against UNC Asheville.
Radford's offense hit at an impressive .307 clip guided by Lea Gage and Alyssa Cadavid's combined 43 assists.
The reigning Player and Freshman of the Week Macie Potter was once again in the middle of the victory scoring a 10-kill, 11-dig double-double.
Radford picked up their seventh Big South win tonight, their most in a season since 2022 with still three weeks left in the regular season.

THE BREAKDOWN
The Highlanders set the tone early with a dominant first set. Radford hit .370 to Charleston Southern's .185 led by four early kills from Potter and three from Shepherd. Radford also took advantage of early miscues from their opponent as the Buccaneers conceded four service errors, five attack errors and a trio of set errors.

Radford jumped ahead 4-0 early and paced ahead as Addison Cunnagin hit a pair of kills early. Radford's lead really ballooned at 18-11 as Aubrey Hatch and Maja Bochenek joined in with kills to supplement the Buccaneers' misfires. Radford kept rolling as Potter heated up late in the set to seal it in their favor 25-17.

Set two tightened up, but clutch play late helped Radford build their decisive 2-0 lead. Radford's offense came from all angles as Shepherd, Cunnagin and Roberts each had over three kills. Gage moved her assist total to 15 just two sets in while Radford cleaned up serving woes and added an ace from Bochenek.

Once again, Radford gained an early lead 10-5 as Shepherd kept the team rolling with kills. Cunnagin provided another big push as Radford led by as much as 19-12. Charleston Southern regrouped out of a timeout, though, and tightened things quickly at 20-17 forcing a Radford timeout. The Highlanders weathered the storm and got a pair of big hits from Cunnagin and Bochenek to take set two 25-20.

Set three would be even through the early stretch and also saw the team's first major deficit of the night. Radford fell behind 9-5 behind some misfires but quickly regrouped as Shepherd, Potter and Roberts led a charge that gave Radford a 7-3 run and a new lead. Through an extended media timeout, the Highlanders kept rolling as Shepherd saved her best showing for the final stretch. The freshman tallied a team high six kills in the third set, just ahead of Cunnagin's five and Potter's four.

While things remained tight late as Charleston Southern made one last push, Cunnagin helped put things away with two kills while Shepherd slammed home a kill that won the set 25-22 for Radford and put an exclamation point on her big match. After the rough patch to start the set, Radford finished it with a .326 attack percentage to defeat Charleston Southern 3-0.

UP NEXT
Radford is back in action tomorrow afternoon for a Halloween edition of game day as they host Presbyterian for a 4:00 p.m. first serve in the Dedmon Center.

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