Volleyball Edged By Troy State, Falls to Davidson, Memphis in Wildcat Invite

DAVIDSON, N.C. - The Radford University volleyball program hoped that this weekend would bring better results, but that was not the case, as the Highlanders ended the weekend 0-3 with a pair off losses to host Davidson and Troy State Saturday afternoon in the Davidson Volleyball Classic. RU dropped a straight game match to Memphis Friday night in the first round of the classic.

Memphis Box
Troy State Box
Davidson Box

One consolation, was that sophomore middle hitter Divona Cox as named to the all-tournament team.

In the first game of the afternoon on Saturday, Radford was blanked by Davidson, 3-0, marking the third consecutive 3-0 loss. Game scores for the Wildcats, 30-22, 30-28, 30-25.

Junior Sarah Gates was the lone Highlander in double-digit kills collecting 10, while Tiffany Guthrie and Divona Cox each chipped in with nine to account for 28 of the teams 38 kills in the match. Defensively Allison Ainsley recorded a match high 15 digs.

Latisha Chapman collected 20 kills for Davidson, accounting for just over half of the Wildcats offense.

In the second game of the afternoon and third game of the tournament for the Highlanders, Radford almost pulled the upset of unbeaten Troy State, jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead after two games. From that point it was all TSU as the Trojans handed the Highlanders their sixth loss to start the season, 23-30, 27-30, 30-28, 30-21, 15-10.

Freshman Danielle Rynd dished out 49 assists, including 19 to Cox and 16 to Gates. Guthrie added nine kills in a losing effort for Radford whom is still searching for their first victory in the Michael Burch era.

The road does not get any easier for the Highlanders as they travel across country to play in the Nike Invitational Volleyball Tournament in Stockton, Calif. in a tournament field which includes host Pacific, Penn and No. 8 Pepperdine.

The Radford Pepperdine will reunite RU senior setter Bliss Mulligan, with her sister Bregan, a sophomore at the Malibu, Calif. school. Bregan was the West Coast Conference Freshman-of-the-Year a season ago.