The High Point University volleyball team dropped a hard fought 3-1 (31-29, 28-30, 21-30, 17-30) decision to in-state foe UNC Asheville on Tuesday night in the Millis Center.

The loss snapped a three game win streak for the Panthers, who slipped to 4-13 overall and 2-2 in Big South play. HPU also remained winless at home this season falling to 0-5. UNC Asheville remained undefeated in conference play improving to 4-0 and also upped their season mark to 6-12.

"This was a disappointing loss," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "I'm not sure why but we came out very flat to start the match. We finally got things going late in game one and had a chance to win game two. However, give credit to Asheville's defense because they really stepped it up and kept us from getting into any flow in our sideout game. We just have to go back to work in practice and make the necessary corrections before our next match."

The two teams battled back-and-forth at the start of game one with both squads holding slight leads. High Point eventually grabbed the momentum taking a 21-17 advantage. UNC Asheville scored the next five points to retake the lead followed by a four-point HPU spurt putting the Panthers back in front. The Bulldogs took a 29-28 edge and served for the game one victory but High Point got kills from Jamie Kaufman and Ashley Johnson and an Asheville error to score the final three points.

UNC Asheville surged ahead midway through game two opening up a nine-point advantage at 24-15. Johnson then went back to the service line for the Panthers and ran off seven straight points to close the margin to just two points. The Bulldogs held a 29-25 lead but HPU fought off three game points before finally coming up just short in a 30-28 decision. High Point was hurt by seven service errors and nine hitting errors in the frame.

The Bulldogs came out of the gates quickly in the third stanza scoring seven of the first eight points on their way to a 12-4 lead. High Point struggled offensively and would get no closer than five points the rest of the game. Asheville connected at a match-high .385 clip in the game recording 19 kills with just four errors while HPU hit .200.

In the fourth game, HPU again had problems with offensive consistency posting a -.082 hitting percentage. Asheville scored the first five points of the frame and built a double-digit advantage at 20-10. High Point tried to rally late but was unable to overcome the deficit.

Big South Co-Player of the Week, Kaufman led a quartet of HPU players in double-digit kills finishing with 17. Johnson and freshman Megan Kaminskas both posted season high 12 kills while Audie Gonzalez chipped in 10. Sophomore Lauren Hatch tallied 21 digs to top the Panther defenders. Gonzalez had 17 digs and Kaufman had 13 to record double-double performances on the night. Sophomore setter Kristina Taylor also posted a double-double dishing out 56 assists and picking up 14 digs.

Asheville's Elif Unlu, the other Big South Co-Player of the Week, finished with a double-double of her own posting 18 kills and 22 digs in the match. Libero Raquel Miotto led all players with 26 digs while Ashley Wrightenberry recorded 14 kills and five blocks for the Bulldogs.

High Point continues its home stand on Sunday at 2 p.m. when the Panthers play host to Birmingham-Southern in Big South Conference play.