Volleyball Defeats Prairie View A&M, Fights in Exciting Five-Setter Against Eastern Kentucky at GATA Challenge Day One

Friday, September 4

Statesboro, GA

11:00 AM

Radford University

2-2,0-0Big South

Prairie View A&M

0-4,0-0SWAC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Prairie View	26	25	22	18	1
Radford	28	19	25	25	3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Radford	13	25	25	25	18	2
Eastern Ky.	25	16	27	23	20	3

Photo by: Matthew Maldonado

Volleyball Defeats Prairie View A&M, Fights in Exciting Five-Setter Against Eastern Kentucky at GATA Challenge Day One

9/4/2026 5:38:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

STATESBORO, Ga. – The Radford volleyball program earned a strong victory over Prairie View A&M 3-1, but also fell to a strong Eastern Kentucky team in their second match of the day in a 3-2 final that featured three sets decided by two points and two tiebreakers.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (PRAIRIE VIEW A&M)

Addison Cunnagin made her presence felt in her first match with the Highlanders, leading the team with 14 kills with a .257 attacking clip.
Macie Potter tallied double figures kills with 11, doing so for the third time in four matches to start this season.
Lea Gage colored in the box score helping from all angles. To go with 34 assists, she recorded a career high eight kills, six digs and three aces.
Radford was outhit in each of the first three sets but was able to flip the script with force in set four, outhitting the Panthers .278 to .185.
Potter and Mia Jannazzo led digging efforts once again with both players over 10 in the match. Jannazzo now has 15+ digs in every match where she has started as the libero.
Radford has won their regular season weekend tournament openers in back-to-back weekends to open the year. The last time Radford won tournament openers in back-to-back weeks was at the start of the 2022 season.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (EASTERN KENTUCKY)

Riley Greene led Radford's offensive efforts with a career high 15 kills, matching her kill total from the previous four matches combined.
Greene's .513 hitting percentage in the match is the highest by a Radford player in a single match so far this season. On the season, she is now hitting .366.
In her first action of the season, Olivia Ryno had a big debut with 14 kills and seven digs.
After early struggles, Cunnagin caught fire late to finish with a 10 kill, 10 dig double-double.
Radford's nine total blocks tied a season high with Roberts totaling six on the evening.
Through five matches, the Highlanders have played at a marathon pace playing in 23 sets. It's their most sets played through the team's first five matches in program history, passing the previous high of 21 set three separate times.

PLAY BY PLAY (PRAIRIE VIEW A&M)
Looking to get back in the win column, Radford put their best foot forward in Friday's first match with an exciting first set. While the team was limited to just 29 attacks, they took advantage of seven service errors by the Panthers to take large leads throughout the set. An ace by Mia Jannazzo capped a 5-2 run early which had Radford up 13-8. After a run by Prairie View A&M tightened the set up at 14-13, Radford called a timeout and regrouped well. The team opened up a new lead and held on at the 21-17 mark with another ace, this time from Cunnagin.

Out of a Panthers timeout, the Highlanders seemed to take another commanding lead at 24-21 as Potter collected a kill and Radford took advantage of a service error. Two straight attack errors put the Highlanders in trouble, though, as the set quickly tied back up at 24-24. Both teams would trade points looking to win a serve until Taryn Roberts gave Radford an opening with a kill that put the team up 27-26. One more errant attack by the Panthers sealed the first set in Radford's favor from there, 28-26.

Now up 1-0, the Highlanders would see their offense pick up steam in set two but issues off the serve would give Prairie View A&M an opening to tie the match. Radford connected for kills on 11 of 33 attack attempts but allowed four aces and a dominant Panthers attack percentage of .323 to fall behind. Radford would lead late in the set at 18-17, but eight of the final nine points in the set went Prairie View A&M's way and allowed them to sprint away with a 25-19 second set victory.

In set three, the Highlanders continued to fire and posted a match-high 17 kills in the set to help break a late tie. After trading points early, the Highlanders were behind 15-12 at the media timeout but returned with a big run. Cunnagin, who provided six kills total in the set, had the first kill out of the timeout and started a 3-0 rally to tie the set at 15-all.

Prairie View A&M's consistent attack would give them a 21-19 edge late, but Radford came back with one more big run to take the set. Out of a Radford timeout, Potter got things started with a kill followed by Cunnagin and Gage for a 22-21 lead. A serving error by the Panthers gave Radford a good opening to end the set and Cunnagin took full advantage with her fifth and sixth kills of the set to put things away at 25-22.

Radford's fourth set was their most efficient of the match and helped leave no doubt in the eventual win. After falling behind 3-0 early, Radford rattled off five straight points to take a lead that would hold the rest of the set. Kills from Gage, Riley Greene and Aubrey Hatch would pace the offense and Roberts provided another kill that gave Radford a 15-12 lead at the media break.

Greene and Hatch provided even more kills out of the timeout, eventually finishing with six of the team's 16 kills in the fourth set. Gage, who connected for kills on four of five attempts and assisted nine other kills, led the team's efficient attack in the set with a .278 attacking percentage. Two of Radford's final three points needed to seal the match were kills as the Highlanders took set four 25-18 and the match 3-1.

PLAY BY PLAY (EASTERN KENTUCKY)
The first set against the Colonels was one to quickly put behind themselves for the Highlanders, as the lopsided final would come out to be 25-13 in Eastern Kentucky's favor. Radford struggled to find consistency on the offensive end with just six total kills and gave up a four-point swing on the serve while Eastern Kentucky hit .382 to sprint away.

In set two, Radford responded in kind to tie the match. Radford flipped the box score back to even with a .345 hitting performance behind a combined 12 kills from Ryno and Greene. The pair guided Radford to a big 15-8 lead by the media break and that advantage would never see any doubt the rest of the way. Despite a few miscues late, Radford took care of business with a 25-16 second set win.

The rest of the way would feature no more lopsided set scores as the third, fourth and fifth sets would come down to two points and a pair of sets running past the minimum. The duo of Ryno and Greene kept firing with eight kills while Potter and Roberts provided three each. The set was tight throughout with neither team gaining any edge of more than a few points.

Tied at 22-all, Radford got a big kill from Greene to gain an edge. Eastern Kentucky quickly responded with a pair of points which forced a Radford timeout while trailing 24-23. Out of the timeout Ryno got a kill and Radford forced an error to flip the set point to their favor. The Colonels had one more timeout in their pocket, however, and it proved fruitful as they finished the set on a 3-0 run to win it 27-25.

In set four, Ryno and Greene combined for another combined eight kills while Potter and Roberts combined for three including a key pair of kills late. The Highlanders jumped ahead 6-2 early in the set and held that four-point lead all the way to the media timeout at 15-11. Out of that timeout, though, the set tightened up as Colonels found little resistance in their attack.

Tied at 16-16, Roberts tallied a kill and ace to give the Highlanders some breathing room. Eastern Kentucky responded with a 5-1 run to take their first lead of the set, though, at 22-20. Kills from Potter and Roberts tied the set back up and the duo combined for a block to give Radford back a lead. A Ryno kill gave Radford set point at 24-23, and an attack error sealed set four for Radford at 25-23 and forced the winner-takes-all.

Radford would fall behind early in the deciding set 5-1 but after a timeout came back with new energy. Greene added a kill while Cunnagin flared alive with two straight aces. Suddenly the set was tied at 7-7 where it would remain in a deadlocked tie the rest of the way. Cunnagin came alive for multiple kills down the stretch that helped the Highlanders keep pace. Radford would get match point at 14-12, but an unfortunate pair of points pulled the set back into a 14-14 tie. Radford would get match point opportunities again at 17-16 but wasn't able to complete the comeback as Eastern scored the final two points of the set to win 20-18 and take the match 3-2 by the slimmest of margins.

UP NEXT
The Highlanders conclude play at the GATA Challenge tomorrow afternoon with the weekend hosts Georgia Southern. Action is set for a 2:00 p.m. start and will be streaming on ESPN+.

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