No. 2 Radford Advances To Championship Match With Sweep of No. 3 Winthrop
Asheville, N.C. -- The No. 2 seeded Radford women's volleyball team advanced to their fourth Big South Championship match in the last five years after their sweep of No. 3 Winthrop, in the semifinals of the 2018 Big South Tournament at the Justice Center on Saturday evening. The Highlanders, who defeated the Eagles by scores of 25-23, 25-17, 25-22, will meet top-seeded High Point on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. on the campus of UNC Asheville. The winner will earn an automatic berth into the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
BOX SCORE
First Team All-Big South Conference right side hitter Stephanie Neast amassed a team-high nine kills and hit a sensational .381 to lead the Highlander offense. Â Freshman outside hitter Kylie Tuxford and senior outside hitter Valerie Gonzalez (10 digs) added eight kills apiece and junior middle Mallory McKnight contributed seven winners. Senior setter Haley Kleespies distributed a match-high 33 assists and freshman libero Grace Green came up with a match-high 16 digs.
Radford hit .259 (41 kills, 12 errors, 112 attempts) for the match and held Winthrop to a .178 clip (36 kills, 17 digs, 107 attacks). Radford also racked up nine service aces and were led by McKnight's three winners.
FIRST SET
The Highlanders jumped out to an 8-3 start as McKnight recorded three quick kills. A service ace by sophomore Jordan Coomes stretched the lead to 11-4 and Radford continued their hot start and led 16-7 after a Kleespies ace. Winthrop fought back and went on a 15-6 run to close within 23-22 after a Highlander attack error. Tuxford answered with a kill off a feed from Kleepies to give Radford set-point, however, Makayla Doyle followed with a kill to bring the Eagles within 24-23. Tuxford came through yet again, drilling another winner off another set-up from Kleepies to close out the frame.
SECOND SET
Radford led 7-3 after back-to-back kills by Neast but the Eagles went on a 5-3 spurt to close within 10-8. The Highlanders responded with seven unanswered points, aided by five Winthrop miscues. Radford cruised the rest of the way and eventually put the set away with a kill by senior outside hitter Amaya Rousseau.
THIRD SET
Winthrop raced out to a 6-1 start but Radford was never rattled. The Highlanders managed to even the score at 21 after a kill by Neast and took their first lead, 22-21, following a kill by Gonzalez. Â Radford then went up 23-21 after an attack error by the Eagles but the Highlanders returned the favor with an error of their own to bring the score to 23-22. However, McKnight responded with a kill down the line to give Radford match-point and Gonzalez followed with a kill of her own to put the Highlanders into the championship match.
QUOTABLE
Coach Marci Byers on Tonight's Win -
"I thought we were confident tonight. We had a good week of preparation and they did a good job of taking it into the match tonight. We got ahead and stayed ahead even though Winthrop made some pushes."
Coach Byers on playing against High Point in a re-match of the 2017 Big South Championship match.
"We put ourselves in the position we wanted to be in. We won't talk about it that much. We all know what's at stake and both teams remember what happened last year. We have to come out and play with confidence against a really good team. We have to believe in ourselves. Last year we lost to them twice during the regular-season as well so I'm hoping our veterans can let the younger players know that anything can happen."