Radford Downs Winthrop, 3-0, Advances to Championship Match
The Radford volleyball team swept No. 6 Winthrop (25-21, 25-19, 25-23) in the semifinal matchup of the Big South Championships Saturday night inside the Dedmon Center, propelling the Highlanders to third third championship appearance in the last four years.
BOX SCORE
The second-seeded Highlanders (24-4, 13-3 Big South) fell behind 3-0 early, climbing back into contention taking its first lead of the match (17-16) thanks to a Sydney Gunter attack error. Winthrop (18-14, 8-8 Big South) fought back to regain the lead, 19-18, when Gunter made up for her mistake with a kill. Valerie Gonzalez tied the match at 19, before Gunter put the Eagles ahead again by one with her third kill of the set.
Gonzalez came back, knotting the match with a kill thus beginning a stretch of four unanswered points, putting Radford ahead 24-20. Mallory McKnight boomed the ball into the center of the court for the set-clinching 25th point.
The second set began like the first with Winthrop scoring the first three points. The lead grew to as many as five before the Highlanders began chipping away to tie the set at 10. The two teams went back-and-forth with three lead changes. Tied at 13, Radford began pulling away with a 7-3 run making it a 20-16 set. The momentum continued as Radford closed out the set scoring five of the next eight points taking a 2-0 set lead (25-19).
Radford went up 6-3 early in the second set, which generated more confidence and scoring opportunities en route to an 11-7 lead midway through the set. A couple of Eagle attack errors and Highlander kills increased the lead to eight, 18-10.
However, the scrappy team from Rock Hill, S.C., would not go away, coming back with a 10-3 run cutting the lead to one (21-20). Radford stepped up and scored three unanswered, needing just one point to punch its ticket to the championship match. Winthrop clawed back, taking advantage of three Highlander errors that made the score 24-23. The Big South Conference Player of the Year, Maddie Palmer, took a great pass from Big South Second-Teamer Haley Kleespies and picked up her 10th kill of the night completing the sweep.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• On the day she received her second straight Big South Player of the Year trophy, Maddie Palmer recorded her 20th double-double on the season.
• The senior finished tied with a team-high 10 kills and 14 digs making it the 55th double-double of her career.
• Valerie Gonzalez followed Palmer with a 10-kill performance of her own, finishing with a .381 hitting percentage.
• The All-Big South honorable mention selection now has 16 double-digit kill matches on the season.
• Mallory McKnight contributed eight kills and a .389 hitting percentage as Stephanie Neast followed her fellow sophomore with seven kills.
• Haley Kleespies tallied 35 assists, which led all players and added two kills.
• Kaylor Nash was the other Highlander with double-digit digs as she matched Palmer with 14.
• Radford hit .229 on the night and held the Eagles to a .089 hitting percentage. The Highlanders also picked up 8.5 blocks on the night as a team. McKnight and Neast led with four block assists and Palmer added two solo blocks.