Looking to earn a weekend road split on their Big South tour through Virginia, High Point battled but dropped a hard-fought 3-0 (33-31, 30-21, 30-28) loss at Liberty on Saturday night at the Vines Center.

The loss drops the Panthers to 9-20 overall and 6-7 in Big South play with just one regular season conference match to play. Liberty improved to 10-16 overall and 8-5 in the Big South and assured themselves of a first round home match in the upcoming league tournament.

Freshman Audie Gonzalez posted a double-double to lead HPU, finishing with 16 kills and 13 digs. Junior Jamie Kaufman added a team-leading 17 kills while libero Lauren Hatch was the squad's top defender with 19 digs.

Alysson Sanders led Liberty with 12 kills and added 13 digs and four blocks to help the Lady Flames to the key conference win. Ashley Webber, who had not played since Liberty's last match-up with High Point three weeks ago, hit .381 with 11 kills and a pair of blocks.

The opening game turned out to be a highly competitive frame with the lead changing hands 11 times during the stanza.  Kallie Corbin gave the Lady Flames an 18-14 lead after serving for three aces during a 5-0 burst by the home team.  A Liberty attack error provided the visitors with a late lead at 27-26.

After a Liberty timeout, Webber entered the match and posted kills in two of her first three swings, helping the Lady Flames regain control of the game.  It would take three game points, but Liberty finally ended game one on top by a 33-31 count.

Game two was tightly contested during its early stages and the score was tied six times, including at 10-10.  Sanders and Webber then posted back-to-back kills and Sanders served up an ace, enabling Liberty to take a lead it would not relinquish.
 
A trio of Webber kills helped Liberty race out to an 11-3 advantage early in game three.  The Lady Flames appeared to be headed for an easy victory after Kendall Nichols' kill gave the home team a 20-13 lead.

High Point then stormed back with a 17-6 run, taking the lead at 27-26 on a Lindsay Raus spike.  Gonzalez had four kills for the Panthers during that surge.  A block by Sanders and Webber and a kill by Corbin helped Liberty regain the lead.  A High Point service error and an attack error then finished up a 30-28 decision and the match for the Lady Flames.

The Panthers return home to close out their home slate with a non-conference match against North Carolina A&T on Tuesday at 7 p.m., before visiting Big South leader Winthrop on Saturday in their regular season finale. Big South Tournament action begins on Tuesday, Nov. 14 with the semifinals and finals set for Nov. 17-18 at High Point.