The High Point volleyball team had its chances, but in the end came up a little bit short in their 3-1 (24-30, 25-30, 30-19, 24-30) loss to Tennessee Tech on Friday night in the opening round of the Broyhill Inn Appalachian Classic.

The Panthers (1-1) seemed to win the battle of the stats but struggled to capture enough of the key points as the Golden Eaglettes (1-0) capitalized on a few HPU miscues to earn the victory in their season opener.

Senior Michelle Feiser continued to be High Point's leader posting a triple-double in the match with a team-best 14 kills, 28 assists and 10 digs. Sophomore Jamie Kaufman finished with a double-double of 10 kills and 10 digs while freshman Ashley Mellott tallied 13 kills in just her second career collegiate match. Freshman Lindsay Raus hit at a team leading .312 pace in her first collegiate start.

Defensively, senior Jenelle Stouffer paced the Panthers with a match-best 20 digs to help HPU earn a 57-51 edge in the category. Junior Sabrina Wahid was the top front row defender finishing with five blocks. The Panthers also continued to be a dominating force from the service line tallying 13 aces to just six from TTU. Feiser and freshman Lauren Hatch each finished the night with four aces.

For the match, High Point finished with a 54-44 advantage in kills but lost the battle at the net 15-8 in team blocks. The Golden Eaglettes also captured a slight edge in hitting percentage .127 to .121. TTU's Anne Morrow was the squad's top performer finishing with 15 kills and 12 digs.

HPU returns to action at the Broyhill Inn Classic on Saturday with a pair of matches. The Panthers face East Carolina at 10 a.m. before meeting host Appalachian State in the tournament finale at 7 p.m.