CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College volleyball battled Radford throughout on Friday night but came out on the wrong end of a four-set match as the visiting Highlanders defeated PC 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 23-25) inside the Templeton Center in Big South action. Sophomore Rylee Moorhead led the Blue Hose offense with 16 kills as freshman Anna Baranski tallied a career-high 47 assists.
FINAL SCORE: Radford 3, Presbyterian 1
LOCATION: Templeton Center (Clinton, S.C.)
RECORDS: Presbyterian (7-16, 3-8) | Radford (9-14, 5-6)
Coach Burgess' Thoughts
"It was a hard-fought and tight match tonight, I'm proud of the team to find ourselves in the end game when you get to 20 and have a chance late to take the set. We did that in all four sets and were able to take one of them tonight and battled to the end in the other three. Quick turnaround to battle the top team in the league tomorrow in Campbell."
How it Happened
- The two teams battled tight in the opening set before the Highlanders created separation with a 4-2 burst to take a 13-11 lead in the opening set. PC rattled off four of the next five points to take a 15-14 lead to the first media timeout of the night. Out of the media timeout, the Blue Hose rattled off three of the next five points to take an 18-16 lead to force the guests to a timeout. PC pushed the lead to 20-18 before the Highlanders scored three of the next five points to take a 22-21 lead and force the Blue Hose to a timeout. Radford closed on a 4-1 run to take a 25-23 set one win.
- The Blue Hose raced out to the early 3-1 advantage before four of the next five points gave the Highlanders a 5-4 lead. PC answered with six of the next seven points to give the Blue Hose a 10-6 lead. Radford rattled off five of the next six points in a match that featured numerous ties on Friday to tie the set at 11. Both teams traded bursts with five ties leading to a 21-21 match forcing a Blue Hose timeout. PC closed the set with four of the final six points to take set two 25-23 and even it at a set apiece.
- The third set featured numerous trading of points before a 4-0 burst gave the Blue Hose a 10-6 lead in the third set. Radford pushed back in front with six of the next seven points to take a 12-11 lead. The Blue Hose answered with a 6-1 run to take a 17-13 advantage. The hosts were able to keep the margin at four, 20-16 before the Highlanders used a timeout. The Blue Hose pushed it to 21-18 before Radford finished on a 7-1 run to take set three 25-22.
- Radford got the early advantage in set four with a pair of four-point leads with the last coming at 12-8 forcing PC to use a timeout. The hosts cut the deficit to three, 14-11 before four of the next five came from the Highlanders to make it 18-12 and led the Blue Hose to a timeout. PC was able to keep fighting back on the heels of an 8-2 run that evened it at 20. The two teams each scored three in a row before a pair of Highlander points gave them the match in four.
Notables
- Moorhead paced the Blue Hose offense on Friday with 16 kills which mark the eighth time in league play that the sophomore has eclipsed 10+ kills. She also added six digs, four aces, and a pair of blocks to her stat line.
- Kasey Battle and Paige Cairns each added 13 kills in the match. Battle added a pair of digs while Cairns had four digs in the match.
- Battle has now tallied 98 kills (2.45/set) in league play just behind Moorhead who's got 127 kills (3.02/set) in conference matches.
- Freshman Anna Baranski improved on her career-high from last Saturday at USC Upstate as Baranski totaled 47 assists along with six digs and a pair of aces. Baranski is averaging 6.16 assists per set in league play.
- Anna Hewitt led the Blue Hose with 25 digs marking back-to-back matches of 25+ digs as she had 28 last time out against Upstate.
- Junior Jordan McAda finished one off of matching her career-high in blocks with seven blocks as McAda added a pair of kills to her stat line.
Up Next
- The Blue Hose return to action on Saturday with the first serve at 2 p.m. as Campbell visits Clinton. Saturday's match with Campbell will be shown on ESPN+.
