Highlanders Drop Tough Five-Set Match to UNC Asheville

RADFORD, Va. - Radford dropped a tough five-game match to UNC Asheville in Big South volleyball action from the Dedmon Center. The Highlanders fell by the scores of 24-30, 30-26, 28-30, 30-22, 13-15. With the loss RU falls to 3-25 overall and 2-10 in the Big South, while the Bulldogs improve to 16-8 overall, 9-4 in the Conference.

Tiffany Guthrie (Littleton, Colo.) tied a career high with a game best 23 kills and hit .419 for the Highlanders. Defensively, Rachel Newton (Anderson, S.C.) registered a game high 25 digs, while Sarah Gates (Hanover, Pa.) posted 19 and also added 53 assists. Elizabeth Aldredge (Richmond, Va.) registered her second straight double double with 12 kills and 14 digs. Guthrie, along with Divona Cox (Virginia Beach, Va.) had six and four block assists for RU.

Setter Amanda Wiles led the Bulldogs with her third triple-double of the season, registering 46 assists, 12 kills and 11 digs. Frida Sigurdardottir and Kelly Budnick led the Bulldogs with 15 kills apiece and added 13 and 18 digs respectively. Rose Butler also had a double double for UNCA with 18 digs and 14 kills.

Game one was back-and-forth early on before UNCA used a 4-0 spurt to grab a 17-13 lead. The Highlanders would rally back to take a 19-18 lead. With RU up 23-22, the Bulldogs closed out the game with an 8-1 run that was finished off by a block assist by Sigurdardottir and Wiles. Sigurdardottir led UNCA with six block assists for the match.

The second game started off like the first one with neither team taking more than a one-point lead. Once again, UNCA used a spurt to take a 13-10 lead. The Highlanders battled back again, but the Bulldogs would respond and forced RU to call a timeout when they posted a 20-18 advantage. After the timeout, Radford quickly evened the match at 20, and with the scored knotted at 26, they would record the final four points on two blocking errors and two Guthrie kills to win 30-26.

Game three saw Radford possess leads of 5-1 and 21-16, but a 6-0 run on the latter catapulted the Bulldogs to a 22-21 lead and propel them to a 30-28 win. In game four, RU once again jumped out to an early lead (7-2), only to see UNCA forge ahead 10-8 with a 8-1 run and build a four-point advantage at 18-14. The Highlanders tied the match at 18 and used an 11-2 run to win the game, 30-22.

After falling behind 12-9 in game five, Radford was able to tie the game at 12. But after each team sided out, the Bulldogs used a block assist and a RU attack error to win the game and the match.

Radford closes out their regular season tomorrow when they host Birmingham Southern at noon.

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