High Point posted a 3-0 (30-22, 30-21, 30-19) sweep over Presbyterian in the Millis Center on Friday night to earn their ninth consecutive volleyball victory.

The Panthers improved to 18-6 overall with the victory and established a new single season program record for wins in HPU's nine-year Division I history. The loss dropped the Blue Hose, a future Big South Conference member, to 15-10 this season.

"This was a great team win," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "We were able to execute our sideout offense very well tonight. I thought our serve reception allowed us to stay in system for most of the night. We are playing well right now and enjoying our success. We will hopefully continue to keep our focus one match at a time and keep building on our momentum."

HPU dominated the match in every facet outslugging PC 53 kills to 34 while hitting .278 to the Blue Hose .082 performance. The Panthers also recorded six service aces and held a 9-5 advantage in team blocks.

Junior Ashley Mellott led the HPU offense with 15 kills while fellow junior Lindsay Raus added 12 kills in the win. Freshman middle blocker Anna Lott paced the team with a .467 hitting percentage tallying nine kills with just two errors. Raus and senior Ashley Johnson each recorded five block assists to top the HPU front line while freshman Julie Hershkowitz anchored the Panther back row with 13 digs.

Kelsey McKee had 11 kills to lead PC while Rachel Lewis' 13 digs topped the Blue Hose defensive effort.

A four-point run early in game one gave the Panthers a 10-4 lead. HPU slowly widened the gap building a double-digit lead late in the frame before a late flurry by Presbyterian cut the final margin to eight points.

The two squads battled back-and-forth at the start of the second frame recording eight ties and two lead changes. With the score knotted at 11, HPU sophomore Audie Gonzalez toed the service line and rattled off seven straight points capped by back-to-back service aces to put the Panthers in front for good. High Point again built a double figure lead that was whittled down by a late Blue Hose surge.

High Point scored the first four points of game three, but PC fought back and evened the count at 6-6. A kill by Raus sparked a four-point rally by HPU and then Gonzalez again struck for three points from the service line as HPU moved in front 13-8. The Panthers extended their lead to 20-13 before Presbyterian mounted a final charge scoring five straight points to force an HPU timeout.  High Point settled down and outscored PC 7-2 down the stretch to complete the sweep.

High Point concludes their brief weekend home stand on Saturday at 2 p.m. versus in-state Big South rival UNC Asheville. HPU is 9-0 this season versus in-state opponents.