The High Point University volleyball team pushed the two-time defending Big South champion Winthrop Eagles to extra points in two games in dropping a hard-fought 3-0 (30-32, 23-30, 36-38) loss on Thursday night in the Millis Center.

A scrappy Panther squad (1-12, 0-1 Big South) rallied from deficits in a pair of games using solid passing and defense and a balanced offensive attack. In the end, HPU came up just short against a talented Winthrop team who improved to 13-1 (1-0 Big South) on the year.

"Tonight was a total team effort," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "I was proud of the determination and passion that our team played with from the start of the match to the final point. The team executed our game plan effectively but just weren't able to score that deciding point. We played tonight at a level that I believed we could play. It was impressive to see us respond and rally after falling behind in a couple of games. We just need to build on this performance and keep working."

Junior Jamie Kaufman led the Panthers with her sixth double-double of the year finishing with 14 kills and 15 digs. Senior Sabrina Wahid tallied her fifth double-digit kill performance adding 11 kills for HPU. Wahid and sophomore Lindsay Raus each recorded four blocks to pace the High Point frontline.

Taryn Surbaugh topped all players putting down 18 kills and hitting .469. Emily Stockman ended the night with 21 digs to lead the Eagle passing corps.

Winthrop grabbed the early advantage in game one jumping in front 7-2. High Point fought back and eventually knotted the score at 11. From there the two squads each took turns with the lead, but never by more than three points. The Panthers served for the game one victory twice before the Eagles set down back-to-back points for the 32-30 victory.

WU earned a quick lead in game two, 13-5, and maintained a comfortable margin for most of the rest of the frame. High Point staged a late rally fighting off four game point opportunities before finally falling by a count of 30-23.

The Eagles scored the first two points of game three and slowly opened up a five-point edge at 13-8. HPU refused to go away as they chipped away at the deficit until a 9-3 spurt pushed them in front 26-23. Winthrop rallied to even the score at 28, where the teams settled into a sideout contest. High Point again had three chances to serve for the victory and also fended off five decisive serves by the Eagles before falling 38-36.

The Panthers will enjoy a weekend off from competition before returning to action next Tuesday at Winston-Salem State.