RADFORD, Va., Oct. 11, 2011 – Sophomore libero Katie Daorai (Tampa, Fla./Plant) tied a season-high with 25 digs and redshirt junior outside hitter Natalie Abel (Tampa, Fla./Plant) hit .438 to lead the James Madison volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Radford at the Dedmon Center on Tuesday night.

JMU won by set scores of 23-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-23 to improve to 14-5 on the season and 10-4 in non-conference play. Radford dropped to 8-12 with the home loss.

Daorai’s 25 digs tied for the third most in her career and most this season. Abel had a match-high 14 kills against zero errors in 32 attempts to help the Dukes to a .173 attack percentage. Junior outside hitter Danielle Erb (Tampa, Fla./Plant) recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 12 kills and 11 digs while adding two service aces and two blocks. Junior setter Megan Wiechmann (Sunland, Calif./Village Christian) also had her fourth double-double of the season with 25 assists and 12 digs.

Sophomore middle blocker Kelly Maguire (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) hit .526 with 13 kills and just three errors while freshman middle blocker Lizzy Briones (Siloam Springs, Ark./Siloam Springs) led all players with four blocks.

The Highlanders were led by Rachel Wiechecki with 13 kills and 11 digs. Emma Deininger added 10 kills while Emily Carlin was the only other player with a positive attack percentage, hitting .088 with seven kills and three service aces. Libero Rachel Brummitt collected a match-high 26 digs and Christine Beckham posted 20 assists and eight digs.

JMU outhit Radford .173 to .095 and held a 9-5 advantage in blocks.

Madison jumped out to an 8-5 lead in set one, but the Highlanders responded with five kills, a service ace and a block to fuel a 7-0 run. Following a timeout by head coach Lauren Steinbrecher, JMU battled back to take the lead at 18-17 after a kill by Maguire. The teams went back and forth from there, trading the lead five times before RU closed the set with three straight points to win the set 25-23.

Play was tight early in set two with a tie score nine times in the first 18 points. Fueled by the serving of Erb and senior outside hitter Holly Wall (Kaukauna, Wisc./Kaukauna) JMU went on a 8-2 run to open up a 17-11 advantage. Radford twice got as close as two points later in the set before Wiechmann set up Maguire to put the set away 25-21.

After the break, JMU trailed for just two points early in set two as it steamrolled to a 25-14 win. The Dukes hit .481 in the set, collecting 16 kills against just three errors while limiting RU to a .038 attack percentage.

Madison appeared to have the fourth set well in hand early on by winning 14 of the first 19 points, fueled by a 6-0 run with Erb serving. The Highlanders cut the lead down to three points with a 6-0 run of their own, forcing a JMU timeout. The Dukes seemed to reestablish control with a 5-1 run, but RU came storming right back with an 8-0 run to tie the score at 23-23. A service error and a kill by Abel ended the threat and gave Madison the 3-1 win.