After falling behind two sets to none, the Radford University volleyball team fought back to defeat Arizona, 3-2, in the final day of the Cactus Classic in Tucson, Arizona. The win made the Highlanders 3-0 for the weekend and winners of the tournament. Maddie Palmer, Valerie Gonzalez and Kaylor Nash were named all-tournament and Palmer was named tournament MVP.
The first set began with Radford (6-0) taking a 1-0 lead behind a kill from Gonzalez. Arizona spurted off four straight points and took a 4-1 lead. Radford cut it to a one-point set twice but the Wildcats took a six-point lead and forced Radford to call a timeout with the set, 19-13. Arizona went on a 6-2 run and ended the set, 25-15.
The Highlanders fell behind 3-0 in the second set and never took a lead. However, the team made a slight run at the end, previewing sets three, four and five. With the set 20-12 – in favor of the Wildcats – Radford ended with an 8-5 run but a service error ended the set, 25-20 and gave Arizona a two set lead.
Arizona scored the first two points to begin the third set but Radford scored the next five points taking a 5-2 lead. The Wildcats battled back and tied the set at nine and eventually took a 15-10 lead. The Highlanders kept chipping away and went on a 6-0 run with the set at 18-12 to tie it. The back-and-forth action kept going and a kill along with two attack errors gave the Highlanders a 22-20 lead. A Palmer kill and an attack error by Paige Whipple cut the Arizona set lead to 2-1.
The Highlanders took command of the fourth set with 11 kills, five total blocks and three service aces – two by Valerie Ernat – en route to a 25-17 victory. Arizona was held to only eight kills and a -.029 hitting percentage. This tied the match at two sets apiece and forced a fifth set.
Radford scored the first point of the fifth set but the Wildcats came back and took a 4-2 lead. The set eventually would go to 6-4 Arizona lead when two attack errors by the Wildcats tied the set at six and carried over into a 4-0 run. The run gave Radford a 10-6 lead. Arizona battled back cutting the Highlander lead to 11-9 when a kill by Mallory McKnight and two service aces by Haley Kleespies made it match point.
McKnight ended the comeback with a kill thus giving the Highlanders arguably one of the biggest wins in the history of the volleyball program.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Maddie Palmer tallied 16 kills and totaled 10 digs, which gave her another double-double. The double-double was her fourth consecutive double-double this season.
• Valerie Gonzalez was second on the team with 12 kills, while Sydney Tekstra was third with nine. She also hit a team-high .444 percent.
• The team totaled 10 blocks with five coming in the fourth set. Maci Keaton led the way with seven total blocks.
• Kaylor Nash totaled 19 digs, while Alyssa Carruth had 14 and Haley Kleespies contributed with 13.
• The team recorded 13 service aces, while Arizona only had five. Kleespies and Palmer led with four of their own and Carruth had three. Kleespies contributed with 41 assists as well.
• The Wildcats had two and half more blocks, two more digs and two more kills than the Highlanders, but Radford hit .179 compared to Arizona’s .165.
• The victory over Arizona was the third win over a Pac-12 team since 2014. Radford defeated Cal in 2014 and Washington State in 2015.
• The win was also the fifth win over a Power Five school since 2014.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
• Maddie Palmer, Radford (MVP)
• Kaylor Nash, Radford
• Valerie Gonzalez, Radford
• Devyn Cross, Arizona
• Jade Turner, Arizona
• Teagan DeFalco, Grand Canyon
• Claire Kovensky, Grand Canyon
• Chloe Rojas, Eastern Kentucky
“It was an amazing fight from our kids being down 0-2 against a top 30 team. We didn’t give up and we didn’t let down and actually came out in sets three, four and five and took it to them. We stuck with them when they scored big points. We won the pass serve game late as well and that was the difference. I’m super proud of our effort but this is not the best we can play. Again, this doesn’t win or lose us a championship and that’s our ultimate goal, so we have to keep getting better.” ~ Marci Jenkins
Radford will travel to Columbia, S.C., to compete in the Carolina Classic on Sept. 8-9. The Highlanders will face Miami (OH), Eastern Kentucky and host South Carolina. Radford opens with Miami (OH) at 10 a.m.
–RU Athletics