High Point extended their current win streak to 10 matches by outlasting a scrappy UNC Asheville squad 3-1 (30-25, 19-30, 30-23, 30-26) in Big South Conference volleyball action on Saturday afternoon at the Millis Athletic Center.

The Panthers upped their season record to 19-6 overall and 5-2 in Big South play. The win also marked HPU's 10th straight over an in-state opponent. UNC Asheville falls to 6-19 and 0-8.

Senior Ashley Johnson led a quartet of HPU attackers in double-digits finishing with 17 kills and a .375 hitting percentage. Junior Ashley Mellott tallied 16 kills for High Point with Audie Gonzalez chipping in a 14 kill/21 dig double-double. Junior Lindsay Raus added 11 kills in the victory. Freshman Stephanie Wallin came off the bench for an injured teammate and sparked the Panthers in the closing games recording a career best nine kills and two blocks.

Freshman Julie Hershkowitz shared team high honors with Gonzalez finishing with 21 digs. Junior setter Kristina Taylor had a balanced performance posting 62 assists, 12 digs, five kills and a team-leading three blocks.

Alysha Greer paced the Bulldog offense with 17 kills and libero Raquel Miotto topped all players with 29 digs for UNCA.

Game one was extremely competitive as the two squads battled through nine ties and four lead changes. HPU made the first move in the contest using a three-point run on Tara Dyer's serve to earn a 17-14 advantage. The Panthers maintained a slight lead for the remainder of the frame and closed out the victory behind a pair of Gonzalez kills and an Asheville ball handling error.

UNC Asheville controlled the action for most of the second frame using a pair of five-point service runs by Bridget Holliday early and late to even the match at 1-1. Holliday's first run gave the Dogs an 8-4 lead and her second run gave UNCA a double-digit lead at 29-19. HPU freshman starting middle blocker Anna Lott went down midway through the second stanza with an apparent ankle injury.

"We had to battle from start to finish because UNC Asheville played a very tough match against us," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "We dug ourselves some holes in a couple of the games but were able to keep our focus and fight back to get the victory. I'm very proud of how this group continues to find ways to win. I thought Stephanie Wallin really stepped in and gave us a spark and that is a great thing to see for our team. We are excited to have swept the weekend."

Eleven ties and six lead changes highlighted the back-and-forth play in game three. Neither team owned larger than a two-point advantage other than a brief 15-12 edge for Asheville midway through the frame. Trailing 19-17, junior Lauren Hatch rattled off six consecutive points from the service line to put High Point back in front. After trading several sideouts, Taylor tallied the final three points on her serve getting an ace between kills by Mellott and Johnson.

The Bulldogs charged to an 8-1 lead to start the fourth game, but HPU refused to quit answering with an 8-2 run of their own to close the deficit to just 10-9. The Panthers kept clawing their way back and eventually earned their first lead at 16-15. The two teams then swapped points to a 21 tie before Hershkowitz gave HPU some slight breathing room with three service line points. High Point kept the momentum and closed out the match on a pair of Mellott kills and a tandem block for match point by Johnson and Wallin.

High Point has six days off before returning to action next weekend in a pair of key Big South road matches at Liberty (Oct. 26) and Radford (Oct. 27).