After falling behind 2-0, the High Point volleyball team staged a furious rally to force a deciding fifth game but came up just short dropping a 3-2 (21-30, 28-30, 30-21, 30-27, 13-15) decision to Birmingham-Southern in the Millis Athletic Center on Sunday afternoon.

With the loss, HPU slips to 10-9 overall and 2-3 in the Big South Conference. The victory marked the first for Birmingham-Southern in Big South play (1-4), moved their overall season record to 8-10 and snapped a three-match losing skid.

Five players reached double digit kills for High Point on Sunday led by 17 from freshman Ashley Mellott. Fellow freshman Lindsay Raus chipped in 13 followed by Michelle Feiser (12), Sabrina Wahid (10) and Jamie Kaufman (10). Birmingham-Southern had a trio of attackers tally double figures led by 16 from Lillian Henderson.

"Our freshmen have been some of our most consistent players the last few weeks," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "They continue to improve every match and they are really stepping up for us down the stretch of the season."

Defensively, HPU earned a 98-84 edge in digs led by a trio of players recording over 20 digs each. Libero Jenelle Stouffer led the way with 26 with Feiser (24) and Kaufman (20) also reaching the mark. BSC libero Lindsey Herzog led five teammates in double-digit digs with 22 for the match.

Both teams played strong at the net with Birmingham owning a slight 16.5 to 14 advantage in total team blocks. Henderson had eight to pace the BSC Panthers while Raus, Wahid and Tara Mahoney shared High Point honors with seven blocks each.

Birmingham-Southern staked the early lead after opening game one on a 12-4 run. BSC maintained a comfortable margin and captured the first game by a 30-21 count. High Point fell behind again (6-1) to start the second stanza but fought back to eventually grab their first lead of the day at 18-17. The two squads traded points for several rotations before Birmingham finally strung together a few points to take a 29-25 lead. HPU fought off three game point tries by BSC before the visiting Panthers were able to record the winning point.

High Point returned to the floor after the break with a renewed focus taking a lead (18-12) midway through the third game and then pushing forward for the 30-21 win. Game four featured another seesaw contest with both teams taking their turn in the lead. BSC grabbed the early edge 10-5 with HPU rallying to go in front later in the frame at 23-20.  Birmingham-Southern would fight back to knot the score at 25 before watching the home team score five of the final seven points to even the match and force a deciding fifth game.

"I am extremely proud of the heart, fight and effort we showed in coming back after falling behind 2-0," added Esposito. "After a tough match on Saturday it would have been easy to cave in, but this group stepped things up and gave themselves a chance to win. Our defense was really the spark in our late match surge. Hopefully, we can build on that performance and play a complete match because if we can than that will go a long way towards our future success. We still need to find a way to make those key points that decide a close match."

The fifth game featured everything a deciding game should have including 10 ties and a pair of lead changes in a rally to 15. The two squads rallied back-and-forth and even traded service errors in the closing points before BSC's Casey Demos and Kelsey King teamed for a tandem block to score the final point.

High Point will look to snap their recent three-match losing skid on Wednesday night, as the Panthers welcome in-state rival Elon to town for the final match of their current home stand.