Box Score The High Point volleyball team, in the midst of a two-week road swing, battled hard but came up just short in a 3-0 (30-23, 30-25, 30-26) loss at in-state Big South Conference rival UNC Asheville on Friday night in the Justice Center.
The Panthers (13-11, 3-5 Big Soutch) were led by sophomore Jamie Kaufman's double-double of 10 kills and 10 digs. Jenelle Stouffer led the HPU defense with 14 digs while Michelle Feiser just missed her 10th triple-double of the year after posting 16 assists, 12 digs and nine kills. Freshman Lindsay Raus had an impressive showing hitting a stellar .750 for the match with no hitting errors.
Ashley Wrightenberry had 11 kills and seven blocks to lead homestanding UNC Asheville (17-4, 6-2 Big South) to the victory. The Bulldogs also got solid matches from Elif Unlu who had a game-high 13 kills and added 13 digs. Allison Lambert contributed 10 kills while setter Amanda Wiles had 42 assists and 10 digs. Krysti Havens sparked the defense with 15 digs.
"I was proud of our effort tonight, we just came up a little short," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "We played hard for the first serve but just weren't able to put things together to get us over the hump in any of the games. We seemed to be a step behind all night. We had some offensive struggles at times, especially with some unforced hitting errors that proved costly in a close match. We just have to keep working hard and turn our attention to our next match as we head down the stretch in conference play."
The Bulldogs led throughout the first game as they hit .425. Asheville has a balanced attack with four players with four kills each. The Panthers hurt themselves by committing seven attack errors.
In the second game, High Point overcame an early Asheville lead and sprinted ahead 21-19. Kaufman had three kills in the game and two straight to give the Panthers a two-point lead. But following a Bulldog timeout, UNCA rallied with six straight points to take a 25-21 lead. Asheville maintained their lead and held on for the game two victory.
In the third game, Asheville turned up their front line defense recording eight blocks in the frame. The Bulldogs jumped out to an 18-12 lead and High Point could get no closer than three the rest of the game.
High Point continues its current stretch of road matches by travelling to league foe Birmingham-Southern for a 3 p.m. EST, match on Sunday. Asheville will host three-time defending Big South Conference champion Winthrop Sunday afternoon.
