The High Point University volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (30-20, 30-16, 30-15) loss at Big South regular season champion Winthrop in the regular season finale for both squads on Friday night.

The Panthers, who will be the fifth seed at the upcoming conference tournament, finished the regular season at 10-21 and 6-8 in the league. The Eagles (30-2) captured their fourth consecutive regular season crown after winning their 51st straight conference match and finishing the year with a 14-0 league mark.

Winthrop was clicking on all cylinders in their final regular season home match hitting at a .377 pace as a team while holding High Point to just a .068 percentage. The Eagles also finished with a 53-40 edge in digs and a three block advantage along the front line.

Junior Jamie Kaufman led the Panther offense with 10 kills while freshman Megan Kaminskas added eight. Sophomore libero Lauren Hatch tallied a team-best 17 digs on the backline and sophomore Lindsay Raus finished with three blocks to top the HPU front row.

WU's Shannon Sitzmann led all players with 20 kills and Taryn Surbaugh posted 13 kills and a match best six blocks. A trio of Winthrop defenders tallied 10 digs each.

"It was a tough match tonight for us," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "We struggled to execute our game plan and Winthrop played extremely well. I thought we played well at times but just weren't able to put everything together at any time during the match, and against a quality team like Winthrop you have to play well to earn the win. Right now, we just have to get refocused and prepare to get things started in the tournament."

High Point will hit the road for their opening match of the Big South Conference Tournament. The Panthers will play Birmingham-Southern, Liberty or UNC Asheville on Tuesday night, but won't know their opponent until after matches being played on Saturday. The Panthers will be hosting the semifinals and championship match at the Millis Center on Nov. 17-18.