Volleyball Splits Day One of Action at the Pirate Invitational

Saturday, August 29

Greenville, NC

11:00 AM

Radford University

1-0,0-0Big South

Hampton

1-1,0-0CAA

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Radford	25	22	22	25	16	3
Hampton	19	25	25	17	14	2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Radford	25	25	21	24	9	2
Bethune-Cookman	13	18	25	26	15	3

Photo by: Matthew Maldonado

Volleyball Splits Day One of Action at the Pirate Invitational

8/29/2026 7:11:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The Radford volleyball program went the full five sets in both of their matches Saturday afternoon, taking their first game against Hampton 3-2 before falling against Bethune-Cookman 2-3.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (HAMPTON)

Macie Potter posted an incredible collegiate debut with a double-double that included 16 kills and 21 digs. It's the most kills by a Radford freshman in their debut since Emily Carlin recorded 12 against Montana State on August 27, 2010.
Mia Jannazzo did it all in her collegiate debut with three service aces (including the match-winner), four kills and 26 digs. Jannazzo and Potter are the first Highlander freshmen to record 20+ digs in their debuts since Grace Green had 22 against Towson on August 24, 2018.
Taryn Roberts began her senior campaign with a single-game personal record of 19 kills, besting her previous high of 15 against Elon last season.
Service errors were a major bug for the Highlanders with 19 in the match, their most since September 2024 in a single match.
The team made up for the serving issues by dominating on the attack, out-hitting Hampton 78 kills to 50.
The season opener win is the first for the Highlanders since defeating UT Martin 3-2 to begin the 2022 season.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (BETHUNE-COOKMAN)

Roberts one-upped her single match high in kills against Hampton with 20 against Bethune-Cookman, the first Highlander to drop 20 kills in a match this season.
Radford started strong hitting .440 in the first set, but would not hit over .250 over the final four sets.
Julia Murdy set a new career high for digs in the match with 26 while Potter finished with another double-double of 10 kills and 16 digs.
With another 47 assists, Gage is averaging over 10 assists a set through Radford's first two matches.

PLAY BY PLAY (HAMPTON)
In set one, the Highlanders got most of their scoring from a strong attack striking at a .438 clip behind a team-high seven kills from Roberts. Roberts would begin the set with a kill, provided offense throughout and finished with a pair late to give the Highlanders an advantage. Historic matches also kicked off for Potter and Jannazzo as the freshman duo played a major factor with kills and digs.

While the early half of the set played close and saw multiple uninterrupted runs by both sides, well placed timeouts by the Highlanders helped make early adjustments that proved the difference. Tied at 17-17, Radford had their biggest run of the set at 5-1 to take a commanding lead thanks in part to the aforementioned pair of kills from Roberts. After Potter and Katrina Miller tallied a pair of kills to make it 23-19, Hampton called a timeout but was unable to mount a comeback as Jannazzo served an ace and Miller sealed the set with a kill 25-19.

Moving into the second set, miscues would allow Hampton to tie the match back up at 1-1. While Radford's attack was still sharp with 15 kills to Hampton's 10, the Highlanders had seven attack errors and five service errors to account for 15 of the opposition's 25 points in the set. While Radford battled back after falling behind early, Hampton would pull away late to even the match with a 25-22 win in set two.

Set three practically mirrored the second set in the box score as Radford's offense kept piling on the kills but was held back by miscues. This time with six service errors, Hampton was able to maintain control despite a set that was close throughout for another 25-22 finish and now a 2-1 deficit in the match for the Highlanders.

Radford was back to where they wanted to be in set four, their most dominant showing over the five total sets. The Highlanders were back to hitting .395 overall and were fueled by an outburst of six kills from Katrina Miller. Lea Gage assisted 15 of Radford's 18 kills in the set and helped fuel Radford's biggest lead overall on the day at 19-11. It was Miller who would seal the set in Radford's favor with a kill at the end in a 25-17 finish for a set lead that was never in doubt.

Now forced into a winner-takes-all, Radford put themselves in a deep hole early down 7-1 after Hampton opened the set with five kills and an ace uninterrupted. Riley Greene ended that rally and Roberts got back-to-back kills to pull Radford back into the fold. Kills from Roberts and Potter helped Radford pull all the way back into a near tie at 10-9.

Aubrey Hatch, who had been relatively quiet up to this point, played a major role down the stretch to pull off the comeback. Down 13-12, Hatch would record three of the team's last four points with a kill to give Radford a 15-14 edge. Despite serving issues all match long, Radford would seal the match on an ace from Jannazzo to take set five 16-14 and the match 3-2.

PLAY BY PLAY (BETHUNE-COOKMAN)
Rolling out of a thrilling win in game one, Radford kept that momentum swinging into the first two sets against Bethune-Cookman. In set one, the Highlanders hit a blistering .440 with Roberts once again bursting ahead with six kills to fuel the lopsided first set win. Radford's largest lead came at 20-9 leaving no doubt in the eventual 25-13 first set final.

In set two the Highlanders kept rolling even when the kills weren't falling. Radford hit just .186 in set two and was bolstered by four kills from Hatch and three from Greene. Taking advantage of six attack errors from the Wildcats, Radford was able to seal a 25-18 set two victory to take a strong 2-0 lead.

From there, the gas ran out for the Highlanders who were walking into their eighth, ninth and tenth straight sets played with little time off. Attack errors and serving errors started to mount in set three, totaling 12, as Bethune Cookman was able to claw back a set 25-21.

While Radford would clean the miscues up in set four, Bethune-Cookman would find every hole possible to slip by in the set. The Wildcats would rip off 18 kills while never trailing in the set to power past 26-24. Potter would come alive for six kills herself, but a fifth set was on the way.

The Wildcats kept rolling, unfortunately, jumping out to an early lead in the fifth set. Down 8-6, a 4-0 run would ultimately seal Radford's fate as they got stuck in a hole they couldn't overcome as Bethune-Cookman held on to take the set 15-9 and the match 3-2.

UP NEXT
The Highlanders will conclude their opening weekend with the tournament hosts, East Carolina, on Sunday, August 30th at 3:00 p.m. in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. Action will be streaming on ESPN+.

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