Runnin' Bulldogs Drop Tough 3-0 Decision To #1 Radford In Big South Quarterfinals
November 21, 2013 | Volleyball
The two teams split their regular season meetings, with each winning on the road. Radford (23-9) advances to Friday's semifinals. Gardner-Webb (15-18) wraps up the season with its most wins since joining NCAA Division I.
"I'm very proud of our Bulldogs. We definitely fought hard throughout," said Sayles. "We came into this match trying to prove ourselves and I think even in the third game you could see they weren't going to give up. We never shut down. We played through to the last point.
"We had great leadership on the floor this year and we will miss our three seniors' presence on the team next year. Disappointed we couldn't change the outcome today, but I'm very proud of this team."
Radford jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead in the first set, and led 11-6 early before Gardner-Webb recovered and rallied. A terrific run by the 'Dogs eventually trimmed the margin to 19-18 on a Brianna Starr hammer, before Radford created some slight cushion. Another GWU burst cut Radford's lead to 23-22 and responded again to tie at 25.
Gardner-Webb surged in front twice in the ensuing back-and-forth action, before the Highlanders pulled away with a pair of late points. The Runnin' Bulldogs outhit Radford .283 to .231 in the set, with Anderson blistering at a .450 clip (nine kills, no errors, 20 attempts) to go with nine digs defensively.
The second set started with the same intensity as the first set ended, with the teams knotted at 7 before a 4-1 Radford rally forced a Gardner-Webb timeout. Radford pushed that lead to six points at 17-11 scored the matches final six points to win 25-15. The Runnin' Bulldogs cooled offensively in the second set, hitting minus-.032 and Radford notched a .280 percentage to take its 2-0 advantage in the match.
A back-and-forth battle early in the third saw Gardner-Webb push in front 7-3 after consecutive kills from Tyra Montour and Anderson and a ball handling error on the Highlanders. GWU grew its lead to 9-5 before Radford could recover - running off five consecutive points to regain a 10-9 advantage.
The teams engaged in a ferociously competitive battle the rest of the set, with five ties and six lead changes until Gardner-Webb ran off four consecutive points - with three coming on serves - to take a 19-16 lead in the late stages. Kills by Rachel Wiechecki and Jesse Miedema pulled Radford to within 19-18, but Gardner-Webb was the first team into the 20s.
The Highlanders tied the match, 20-20, on a an attack error by the Runnin' Bulldogs, and surged back in front, 22-21, on consecutive scores by Wiechecki - the final on a service ace. James found a hole in the Gardner-Webb defense to put Radford up 23-21, before Anderson painted the back line with a kill to pull GWU back within a point. Wiechecki countered with another kill just inside the stripe and the Highlanders held on for a 25-22 win.
Gardner-Webb hit .157 for the match and was led by Anderson's 13 kills. Anna Pashkova finished with 15 digs and Tyra Montour had six kills and a team-high four total blocks. GWU had 7.0 team blocks in the match. Heather Feldman collected 29 assists and 12 digs and posted three kills and no errors in just five attempts.
Radford hit .231 for the match and got a match-high 14 kills from James and 13 kills / 13 digs from Wiechecki. Each team recorded three service aces.
