NCCU v. Radford

DURHAM, N.C. (www.NCCUEaglePride.com) – North Carolina Central University freshman Dayanna Arrufat led the Eagles with 11 kills in Tuesday night’s match against the Radford Highlanders, but her efforts were not enough to guide the Eagles to victory. Radford defeated NCCU 25-20, 25-17, 25-18 in three sets in McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

 

“We went point-for-point tonight in each set, but our inability to put the ball away held us back,” said NCCU head volleyball coach Georgette Crawford-Crooks. “We were missing two keys players tonight. Their absence forced us to move some players around and based on the number hitting errors, they were not comfortable in this situation.”

 

The mighty maroon began the match with intensity, battling Radford for each point of the first set until the very end. 

 

The Highlanders took an early two-point lead, until three consecutive kills placed the Eagles ahead, 4-2. From that point on, NCCU and Radford remained within a one-point margin and with the score tied at 20 apiece, it was anyone’s set to take. 

 

The Highlanders would go on a 5-0 run to take set number one beginning with a hitting error by Arrufat, followed by a setting error by NCCU sophomore Jzima-Malaki Kalao and concluded with three-straight kills by Radford’s own Rachel Wiechecki. The visiting Virginia squad took set one 25-20.

 

Set two began with the Eagles playing at a more glacial pace, misplacing the level of intensity and fight from set one. Radford quickly paced to an 8-2 lead, forcing the Eagles to take a timeout.

 

The mighty maroon returned to the court speeding to a 9-2 run, taking the lead 11-10. The two squads went into another point-for-point battle. But once Radford was ahead 20-15 after a 5-1 run, the Eagles found themselves entering intermission with a 25-17 set two loss.

 

Set three of the match belonged to Radford from start to finish. Radford leaped to another early lead with a score of 9-2. NCCU trailed by as many as eight points, until the Radford offense suffered five errors to break the lead to four with a score of 21-17. After a maroon and gray timeout, the Highlanders concluded the set with NCCU committing three errors and unable to stop two Radford attacks. The Highlanders sealed the set and the match with a set three score of 25-18.

 

Along with Arrufat’ s 11 kills, senior Emanuelle Santos and freshman Ashley McCarthy finished the night with four kills apiece. While Kalao and freshman Alice Genna distributed 11 assists each. Santos supplied two service aces in the loss, while accumulating nine digs. McCarthy assisted in the defensive campaign with two block assists.

 

Collectively, NCCU amassed 26 kills, five service aces, 29 digs and four team blocks.

 

The Highlander offense was led by Wiechecki, Carly Fleming and Leigh Myers. Wiechecki finished with 10 kills, while Fleming added seven kills to the win and Myers circulated 18 assists. Emily Carlin collected eight digs and supplied two service aces, while Fleming added three solo blocks and four block assists.

 

As a unit, Radford collected 33 kills, four service aces, 27 digs and nine team blocks.

 

NCCU drops to 1-13 on the season, while Radford advances to 5-9.

 

The Eagles return to action on Friday, Sept. 30 for the two-day Maryland Eastern Shore Tournament in Princess Anne, Md.

 

Visit the official NCCU Athletics website www.NCCUEaglePride.com for up-to-date information on Eagle Volleyball.