THE TARTAN Oct.

19, 2011

SPORTS

Volleyball climbing Big South standings after two straight wins

DOM BAYA
dbaya@radford.edu
Radford University Womens volleyball kicked off its Homecoming/Dig Pink contest with a pair of impressive victories over Charleston Southern University and Coastal Carolina University. The Highs began the festivities with a dominating performance in a 3-0 shutout of CSU (25-19, 25-23, and 25-17) that saw two players reach double digits in kills, with freshman outside hitter Rachel Wiechecki recording 12, and freshman middle blocker Emma Deininger, recording 10. An early run by the Highs had them winning five of the sets first six points, and without slowing down they never trailed as they won the first set thanks to key blocks and kills late in the set. After having an 11-4 advantage in the second set, the Highs quickly raced their way to a 25-23 victory despite the Buccaneers rally after the Highs game point at 24-18. The two teams quickly traded points in a back and forth effort to start the third set, but the Highs pulled themselves away to a 13-7 lead after the sets first timeout. After extending their lead to 17-9, they almost faced a setback as the Bucs closed the deficit to four at 20-16. The Bucs would not get any closer than that as the Highs closed out the finals set by claiming five of the last six points. In addition to Wiechecki and Deiningers performance, the Highs got 25 assists from senior setter Leigh Myers while racking up 15 digs from freshman libero Rachel Brummitt. As a libero, Brummitts main role is being a defensive specialist on the floor. As a group, the Highs had .215 of their attack attempts while limiting the Bucs to .143. Their second match would not come as easy as the first, as the Highs almost dropped a 2-0 set lead but eventually hung on for a 3-2 win over the Chanticleers (25-16, 25-15, 20-25, 25-27, 15-12). Senior middle blocker Carly Fleming led the Highs pace with 15 kills out of 25 attempts, while Deininger and Wiechecki added 14 each. Wiechecki recorded her second double-double of the weekend by adding 12 digs in the game against CSU. With the score locked at seven in the first set, Radford begin the run with a 14-5 spurt that later ended with a 25-16 victory. In game two, a 7-0 run by the Highs had the opposing team call timeouts to help solve their problem, but that would not work out as the Highs extended their lead to eight. The Highs ended the set at 25-15 due to an ace by Myers. Game three featured the Chanticleers opportunity to come back as they scored six straight points and extending the match to a 25-20 win. Game four had the Highs trailing throughout most of the set before a small rally had them up 18-16. With 15 ties and six lead changes, the set was more competitive than the previous three. The set was dead even before the Chanticleers scored two straight times off errors made by the Highs to force a deciding final set. Facing an 11-10 deficit, the Highs resisted their opponents pace as they outscored them 4-1 to claim the victory in the fifth set. Myers and freshman setter Christine Beckham combined for a total of 45 assists (25 and 20 respectively) while Brummitt put up a game high 28 digs. As a team, the Highlanders are 10-12 during the regular season are right in the middle of the Big South conference 4-3 in the Big South. With the two weekend victories, the Highs have won four out of their past six matches after starting the season 6-10. The Highs enjoy a near week long break before traveling to a road match against Presbyterian College on Friday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. After the match with Presbyterian, the Highs will travel to Rock Hill, South Carolina to face off with the Winthrop Eagles in a Big South conference matchup at 4 p.m. on Oct. 22.

COURTNEY EARLL | The Tartan

COURTNEY EARLL | The Tartan

Freshman outside hitter Rachel Wiechecki (far left) leads the team in kills (208), and has started every match so far this year.

Radford Volleyball has now improved to 4-3 in the Big South conference, and have won four out of their past six games.

FIELD: Highs soar past Davidson, then fall in a close game to Longwood
From page 7
shots. As Head Coach Jeff Woods explained, We were pretty much in control of that game, but we went down. It was good to see us come back and it was a strong second half. The win proved to be an important Family Weekend win that elevated the Highs to 7-7 overall and 2-2 in the NorPac East Conference. The next game of the weekend was Senior Day for the team against the Longwood Lancers. This game was the last home game of the season. In the 20th minute of the match, LUs Jessica Diaz knocked in the rst goal of the game. Daughtrey later countered the goal with one of her own of the assist from Register. When asked about her fth goal of the season, Daughtrey said, It was great to tie the game up. We were still in it at the time. Stacey de Grandhomme recorded LUs eventual game-winning goal, with a penalty strike in the 38th minute. The Highs would be held scoreless in the second half of the game. The Lancers tacked on one more goal, which elevated them over RU with a 3-1 win. RU managed to obtain 10 corners throughout the game, to LUs 8. LU recorded 13 shots to RUs 11. The loss drops the team to 7-8 overall and 2-3 in the conference. The Highs look to bounce back against the tough Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. at Wake Forest. When asked about how they were going to bounce back from the tough Senior Day loss Coach Woods said, The Wake game is going to be tough. We gotta go to their turf so were going to quickly transition from being on grass to a turf game. So, its going to be a challenge, and also Wakes a good team. RU will close out their season with three road games before starting the Big South conference tournament.

Cooling down with

Emily Carlin
Carlin, a sophomore, is an outside hitter for the volleyball team.

Lets say the game is tied, two sets apiece going into the fifth set. Whats your state of mind heading into that fifth set?
Courtesy of RU Athletics

This situation happens to us a lot and although we battle until the end point, we havent won many set five games this year. So usually when we are going into game five, I become nervous and I know that we need to fight that much harder. But yesterday we took Coastal Carolina to five and won! Five games are frustrating, but I love playing volleyball and if so, when we go to five, I get excited that we get to play another game. Are you ever nervous at the start of a game?

Usually at the start of a game, Im most relaxed. After the announcer introduces our team I get really pumped and am ready to play. Also, I know that the game has just begun and there is plenty of time to get nervous when it is closer to match point.

What do you, personally, plan on achieving as a player by the end of the season?
Personally, as a player, I really want to achieve becoming a leader on our team and a person our team can look up to. Not necessarily skill wise, but more in terms of motivation. We are losing our biggest leader next year and it will be hard to fill her place, but I want to be like her. As a team goal, we definitely plan on finishing in the top three teams of our conference this season. I know we can do it.

JON HUFF | The Tartan

The Highlanders have come roaring back to life in the NorPac East after suffering through a five game losing streak earlier this season. The Highs have won three out of their past five games.

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mjhalberg@radford.edu

Matt Halberg