Highlanders Keep Pace, Ultimately Fall Just Short at East Carolina

Sunday, August 30

Greenville, NC

3:00 PM

Radford University

1-2,0-0Big South

East Carolina

3-0,0-0American

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Radford	21	19	25	15	1
East Carolina	25	25	19	25	3

Photo by: Matthew Maldonado

Highlanders Keep Pace, Ultimately Fall Just Short at East Carolina

8/30/2026 5:45:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The Radford volleyball program went point for point in most of Sunday afternoon's weekend finale at East Carolina but ultimately came up short in the 3-1 final.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Gabriela Smolenska had her breakout showing of the weekend breaking her career high for kills in the match with 11 hitting at a strong .292 clip.
After posting 18 kills yesterday, Aubrey Hatch kept firing with another double digit kills showing against East Carolina today.
East Carolina dominated on the serve scoring seven aces in the match, while Radford was held to one, their lowest since having one at High Point on November 22, 2025.
Mia Jannazzo moved back into the libero spot today and eclipsed 20 digs for the second time in just three matches.
Despite the final score, Radford finished the match with more kills than East Carolina at 50-49.
With the third set victory, Radford was the only team at the Pirate Invitational to blemish the hosts who had won their previous two matches by 3-0 margins.

PLAY BY PLAY
With both squads coming playing their third match of the weekend, it was a slow start as attack errors were common early. Taryn Roberts and Gabriela Smolenska combined for four kills early to help Radford pace ahead at 7-3. East Carolina would tighten the score through a renewed attack effort, but the Highlanders led 15-12 at the first media.

Serving woes returned for the Highlanders in the back half of the set as their own errors and a pair of aces by the Pirates allowed the hosts to take their first lead of the set at 20-19 and pull ahead 23-19. Radford got kills from Aubrey Hatch and Roberts in the comeback attempt, but East Carolina held on to take set one 25-21.

Set two was similarly tight between the two squads including another early lead by Radford. Katrina Miller came alive in the set including a tied for team-high four kills with Smolenska, who's kill gave Radford a 10-6 edge. Radford would hold that lead up to 13-9, but East Carolina went on a 6-1 run to take their first lead of the set at the media timeout.

Three of Smolenska's four kills in the set would come after that media timeout, but the Pirates weren't missing on their offensive end and jumped ahead 21-17. With East Carolina scoring four of the final six points of the set, Radford suddenly found themselves behind 2-0 in the match after two competitive sets.

The team wouldn't back down and had their most dominant set of the day in set three. While the Pirates were held to just a .028 hitting percentage in the set, Radford got a balanced attack led by five kills from Hatch to build multiple long runs. After going down 2-1, the Highlanders scored eight straight to take a commanding 9-2 lead.

Holding on for a 15-11 margin at the media timeout, Radford kicked off another big run as Hatch scored three straight kills out of the timeout. After going ahead 20-15, East Carolina tightened the set back up at 20-18. Out of a well timed timeout, Radford ripped off a 5-1 run to end the third set in their favor behind a kill and block assist from Roberts.

After handing East Carolina their first set loss of the season, Radford trailed just 2-1 but ran out of steam in their 14th set of the weekend. The team hit a respectable .184 in the fourth set, but East Carolina caught fire hitting .441 to take it in dominant fashion. Large deficits proved too much to overcome as the Pirates defended their home court taking the fourth set 25-15 and the match 3-1.

UP NEXT
Radford will return to action next weekend when they visit Statesboro, Ga. to compete in the GATA Challenge. Play begins on Friday, September 4th with a pair of matches against Prairie View A&M (11:00 a.m.) and Eastern Kentucky (2:30 p.m.) with live stats links available on RadfordAthletics.com.

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).

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