A veteran-laden Davidson volleyball squad proved too strong against a young High Point team on Sunday as the Panthers dropped a 3-1 (23-30, 30-25, 14-30, 23-30) decision to their in-state foes at the Millis Center.

For the second consecutive match, High Point (0-2) battled with a much more experienced squad and came up just short in the outcome. Davidson remained undefeated moving to 3-0 with the victory.

Freshman Audie Gonzalez led HPU with her second straight double-double finishing the match with a team best 10 kills to go along with 15 digs. Jamie Kaufman recorded 16 digs to top the Panther defense while sophomore Lindsay Raus was the squad's most efficient offensive threat hitting .333 with eight kills to go along with her team-leading three blocks.

Liz Williamson tallied 16 kills to pace the Davidson attack while libero Courtney Cron posted 22 digs for the Wildcats defense.

"Davidson played mostly juniors and seniors while we had three freshmen on the floor at times today," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "Our inexperience really showed at times today. Early in the season, we are still working on finding a consistent on-court chemistry. I thought we were a bit sluggish today and our serve-receive really broke down during the match. We are going to continue working and I believe that better things are headed our way in the very near future."

The two squads went back-and-forth in the opening game as neither team led by more than three points up to a 21-21 tie. Davidson scored eight of the next nine points to break things open and grab the early advantage with a 30-23 win.

High Point nabbed the early edge in game two only to see the Wildcats rally and regain the lead at 9-8. HPU scored seven consecutive points and never looked back en route to a 30-25 victory. The Panthers led 29-22 in the frame, but DU fought off several game points before finally falling.

Davidson controlled the play in the third stanza using several scoring runs including a 14-2 spurt to close the game, 30-14. The Wildcats surged in front midway through the fourth game leading by as much as 10 points (28-18) en route to capturing the deciding game.

For the match, Davidson topped High Point 55-44 in kills and won the defensive battle 85-73 in digs and 9-5 in team blocks. The Wildcats tallied 13 aces and kept the High Point out-of-system with aggressive serving forcing HPU into a .077 team hitting performance.

True freshman Tara Dyer became the Panther's third rookie to make her collegiate debut in 2006 seeing time as the squad's libero in games two and three.

High Point will conclude its season opening home stand on Tuesday when the Panthers welcome East Tennessee State to the Millis Center for a 7 p.m. contest.