High Point grabbed its fifth-consecutive win and remained unbeaten in Big South play with a 3-0 sweep of Charleston Southern Saturday afternoon in the Millis Center. The Panthers took the competitive contest by a linescore of 30-27, 30-27, 30-28.

HPU (8-7 overall) matched its overall win total and eclipsed its conference win total from 2003, moved to 2-0 in Big South play for the first time in school history, and will take a perfect 5-0 home mark into Tuesday's showdown with Winthrop (7:00 pm).

Lindsey Pickens notched a season-best 21 kills on a .370 hitting percentage and added 10 digs for her ninth double-double of the year.

"We're excited to open up with two conference victories," HPU head coach Chad Esposito said. "But there's a lot of work ahead for us to get better and better."

The Panthers have won five straight matches for the first time in their Division I history, and the first time since 1996.

Jamie Kaufman (15 kills, .355 hitting percentage) recorded double-digits in kills for the fourth-consecutive match and 12th time this season. Michelle Feiser tallied 40 assists, Kim Anderson led HPU with 14 digs, and Ashley Johnson (five kills, seven blocks) and Rachel Schamberger (three kills, five blocks) also had strong matches for HPU.

The Lady Bucs (3-7, 0-3) got 14 kills apiece from Victoria Owens and Jenni Shepherd, while Katie O'Riordan finished just shy of a triple-double (33 assists, 15 digs, nine kills).

HPU led 25-17 in game one before the Lady Bucs won seven of the next eight points to pull within 26-25. The Panthers got a block from Feiser and Johnson and a kill from Pickens to force a game point, and another Pickens kill gave HPU the opening game, 30-27.

The second game had an identical conclusion, with a Pickens kill giving High Point a 30-27 win in game two.

Game three went back and forth and saw the Lady Bucs cling to a 24-23 advantage before four consecutive attack errors seesawed the Panthers back in front, 27-24. CSU then won four of the next five points to tie things at 28-28, but kills by Pickens and Schamberger gave HPU a 30-28 win and its fifth-straight victory.

It was the second Big South win for the Panthers in a 16-hour span. HPU defeated Coastal Carolina, 3-1, on Friday night.

"It's hard to come back the next day and match the intensity," Esposito said. "We talked about it last night, but to try and refocus in such a short time is a difficult task. Fortunately, we hit well and were able to pull away when it counted.

"Charleston Southern played very scrappy on defense and got a lot of extra balls up that we thought were terminated. It's a credit to our team to hang in and match that defensive effort."

CSU returns to action Friday at Liberty (7:00 pm), while the Panthers will now prepare for two-time defending Big South champ Winthrop (13-2, 2-0), which visits the Millis Center on Tuesday in a battle for first place.

"We're certainly looking forward to Tuesday," Esposito said. "We know it'll be a tough match, but at same time, it'll also be a good measuring stick at this point in the season to see where we are. Winthrop was picked to win our league and they're playing well. Hopefully we can play with the same intensity that we did against Coastal."