Runnin' Bulldogs Fall in Straight Sets on Friday Night at Radford
October 01, 2011 | Volleyball
Radford, Va. - In its second Big South Conference road match of the season, the Gardner-Webb volleyball team was haunted my miscues and errors, ultimately falling to the Radford Highlanders 19-25, 16-25 and 12-25 on Friday night in the Dedmon Center in Radford, Va.
The Runnin' Bulldogs committed 25 attack errors, five service errors and five receiving errors, shooting themselves in the foot in every set in the three set loss.
The loss drops GWU to 4-12 overall and 0-2 in the Big South, while Radford improves to 6-9 overall and 1-1 in conference play with the win.
Radford took an early 3-0 lead over the Runnin' Bulldogs in the first set and never looked back, as besides tying the score up at 4-4 on a Radford attack error, the Runnin' Bulldogs never threatened for the lead.
With the score tied up at 4-4, the Highlanders went on a 6-1 run to take a 10-5 lead and force GWU to call its first timeout.
After battling back to cut the Radford lead to two at 12-10, highlighted by a kill from Laura Wilcox and service ace from fellow senior Evan Moffitt, the Highlanders again had an answer, running off four straight points to push its lead back to six at 16-10 and force a second GWU timeout.
The lead proved to be too much for the Runnin' Bulldogs, as GWU got to as close as three at 21-18 on back-to-back Highlander errors, yet failed to take the lead in the 25-19 set loss.
A slow start to the second set by GWU was detrimental, as Radford stormed out to a 7-0 lead on its way to a huge 17-4 lead midway through the second set.
Despite finishing the match with an 11-8 scoring edge, GWU was never in the set, falling to the Highlanders 25-15.
Down 2-0, the third set started out much the same as the third, as GWU found themselves down 9-2 out of the gates.
After six straight points, three of which came by way of GWU attack errors, the Highlanders looked to put the match away earlier with a 15-3 lead over the visiting team.
Gardner-Webb had a string of five points over seven possessions late in the match, four of which came by way of kills from sophomore middle blocker Tyler Cockrell, yet again never threatened the Highlanders for the lead throughout the frame in the 25-12 set loss.
Cockrell had a team-high seven kills, while freshman setter Heather Feldman dished out 19 assists and Moffitt recorded nine digs in the three set loss.
For Radford, Emily Carlin totaled a match-high 11 kills and 11 digs, while the duo of Leigh Myers and Rachel Brummitt combined for 28 sets assists in the win.
Gardner-Webb (4-12, 0-2 Big South) will have to turn things around quickly, as the Runnin' Bulldogs will take on the Liberty Lady Flames at 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon in Lynchburg, Va.
Radford (6-9, 1-1 Big South) will also return to action tomorrow, as the Highlanders will host UNC Asheville at 4 p.m.
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| Box Score: Radford 3, Gardner-Webb 0 |
