The High Point University volleyball team stepped out of conference play on Wednesday night dropping a disappointing 3-0 (30-24, 30-28, 30-26) loss at rival Elon.

The loss was just the second in the last six matches for the Panthers who slip to 5-14 overall on the season. Elon improves to 7-11 with the victory.

Junior Jamie Kaufman paced High Point with 16 kills and 11 digs and freshman Audie Gonzalez led the defense with 13 digs while also recording eight kills.  Junior Ashley Johnson posted a .889 hitting percentage on eight kills and no errors on nine attempts.  Sophomore setter Kristina Taylor registered 37 assists for the Panthers.

Britany Westphal posted a .458 hitting percentage to lead the Phoenix finishing with 13 kills and only two errors on 24 attempts. Juliena Gigon posted 12 kills and a .318 hitting percentage for Elon while Jessica Barrow tallied 10 kills. Brooke Pickard led the defense with 14 digs.

After a 12-12 tie in game one, Elon outscored High Point 8-4 to take a 20-16 lead.  The Panthers never got back within three points and Elon held onto the lead to take a 30-24 win.
 
In the second game, High Point went up early and pushed the lead to seven at 17-10, but Elon scored the next eight points behind the serve of Gigon and the offense of Westphal to go ahead 18-17. Westphal posted seven of her kills in the second frame.  The two teams traded points and knotted the game at 27-27.  Elon scored three of the final four points to end the game 30-28.

In game three, the Panthers again went up early and led by five at 20-15.  Elon used a 7-2 run to knot the game 22-22.  After a 24-24 tie, the Phoenix took the lead on a kill from Barrow and finished the game 30-26 on a HPU attack error.
 
High Point returns home for its next action hosting a pair of key Big South Conference tilts this weekend. HPU faced Radford on Friday at 7 p.m. before meeting Liberty at 2 p.m. on Saturday.