Box Score
RADFORD, Va. – Competing in its first true road trip of the season, the Norfolk State volleyball team fell to Radford, 3-0, Friday afternoon in the Radford Tournament.
The Highlanders played solid ball in winning, 25-18, 25-22, 25-20. The win put Radford at 1-4 on the season, while NSU fell to 3-3.
Freshman Arielle Knafel had 14 kills to lead the way for the Spartans, who hit .194 for the match, their second-best output of the season. The Highlanders, though, attacked at a .361 clip and committed just eight attack errors for the entire match.
Knafel hit .379 for the match and also contributed nine digs. Sophomore Charlotte Armstead added nine kills, and freshman Noelle Eagles posted a match-high 14 digs. Junior Nicole Kessner paced the offense with 26 assists.
Laura Waddell had 12 kills to lead the Highlanders. Emily Carlin added 11 digs and seven kills, and Desiree Aramburu had 28 assists. As a team, Radford also held a 7-3 advantage in service aces and 7-1 in blocks.
Radford jumped out to a 4-0 lead to start the match before redshirt sophomore Paige Gary-Canty laid down a kill to get NSU on the board. Radford extended the lead to five at 10-5, and after Armstead cut the lead to three at 11-8, Radford went on a 6-0 run to pull away in the set.
Down by 10 at 22-12, NSU made a comeback to get to six at 24-18, but after Radford called a timeout, Waddell ended the set with a kill for the 25-18 win.
Down 3-1 to start the second set, an attack error on Radford and a kill by Gary-Canty tied the set up at 3-all. From there, the teams matched up evenly, with neither team taking more than a one point lead for the next 19 serves. Junior Jasmine Frazier hit back-to-back kills for a 7-6 lead, then NSU went up by two at 14-12 after two straight kills by sophomore Maatra Henderson and Kessner followed by a Highlander attack error.
Once more the teams went back and forth until two straight NSU attack errors put the Spartans down, 22-20. A kill by Knafel made it 23-22 Radford, but again Waddell was there for the Highlanders to end the set at 25-22.
Knafel caught fire early in the third set, scoring all four points for NSU on kills during a 4-1 run for the Spartans. Knafel totaled six kills alone in the third set.
Up 6-5 after the last of those four kills, NSU saw the lead evaporate during a 5-0 Radford run. Freshman Mykal Vailu'u saw her first collegiate action after suffering a concussion prior to last weekend, hitting her first career kill to make it 10-7 Radford.
NSU climbed back into the match, getting to within two at 14-12 thanks to a Radford service error. Waddell helped extend the Highlander lead to five at 19-14, and NSU got no closer than three the rest of the way as Radford took the third set, 25-20.
NSU will be back on the court Saturday with a pair of matches against Canisius at noon and East Tennessee State at 5 p.m.
