The Radford volleyball team was defeated in three sets by James Madison on Tuesday evening inside Sinclair Gymnasium. The Highlanders fall to 6-6, while the Dukes improve to 5-5.

 
Yacine Meyer (Makawao, Hawaii / Seabury Hall) led the RU attack with seven kills, to go along with a team-high 16 digs. Rachel Fertitta (Roanoke, Va. / Northside) and Emily Carlin (Downingtown, Pa. / Bishop Shanahan) charted six kills each, while Christine Beckham (Ashburn, Va. / Stone Bridge) tallied her first double-double of the season with 14 assists and 13 digs.

Also contributing double-digit digs was Katelyn Meeks (Richmond, Va. / Mills Godwin) with 14. The senior now has 1,182 digs in her career, 118 shy of second place on the Top-10 chart for that category.
 
The hosts were led by Lizzy Briones and Danielle Erb, who notched 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Erb added 16 digs for a double-double. Meghan Niski finished with a match-high 18 digs, while Megan Wiechmann put up a match-high 32 assists.
 
With Radford trailing 13-10 in the first set, the Dukes reeled off five straight points to create enough separation to take the first set, 25-15.
 
JMU doubled up the Highlanders early in the second stanza, taking a 10-5 lead. RU got to within three, 11-8, but the Dukes scored the next six points to take a 17-8 advantage. The hosts would take a 2-0 edge in the match after closing the set with a 25-18 victory.
 
Out of intermission, the Dukes raced out to an 11-2 lead. Radford responded with an 8-1 rally to get within two at 12-10. With JMU still leading by two, 16-14, the hosts won the next four points to take a 20-14 advantage. The deficit proved to be too deep to recover from as the Highlanders dropped the third set, 25-16.
 
Radford plays in its fourth and final regular-season tournament on Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia, Pa. The Crowne Plaza Philadelphia West Penn Invitational will feature the Highlanders taking on George Mason (12:00 p.m.) and Rutgers (4:00 p.m.) on Friday, and wrapping up with host Penn on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.