The old sports adage that claims it is hard to beat a team three times in one season proved true again on Thursday afternoon as No. 3 seed High Point lost a heartbreaking 3-2 (30-25, 29-31, 27-30, 30-23, 10-15) decision to in-state rival UNC Asheville in the opening round of the 2007 Big South Conference Volleyball Tournament being held at Liberty's Vines Center.

HPU, who finished their season with a program record 24-9 mark, had posted 3-1 victories over the Bulldogs (12-21) in both of the pairs regular season matchups.

"UNC Asheville played an outstanding match," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "We had a difficult time siding out and I give Asheville credit for that.  We had a great year and we can not let one match define our season. We played well enough to win tonight, but it just didn't turn out in our favor."

High Point had four players with double-digit kills in Ashley Mellott (24), Lindsay Raus (12), Ashley Johnson (12) and Audie Gonzalez (11).  Kristina Taylor fell one assist short of 60 with 59, marking her eighth 50-assist match on the season. In the back row, it was Julie Hershkowitz and Lauren Hatch leading all HPU defenders with 19 digs.

However, the match belonged to UNC Asheville's Kelsey Benorden who led the way on Thursday afternoon putting down a Big South season-high and UNC Asheville school-record 34 kills.  Benorden's total also set a Vines Center record, besting the previous record of 31.  Alysha Greer joined Benorden in double-digit kills with 18 for Asheville.  Rachel Guinane posted her fifth 50-plus assist match on the season with 52 helpers in the match.  Raquel Miotto led the back row with 25 digs, her 14th 20-dig match on the year.

The Panthers controlled the offense early and held off a couple late UNC Asheville runs to pick off the 30-25 win in game one.  Game two was back and forth with both teams battling hard.  The game featured a number of ties with UNC Asheville taking control to snatch the 31-29 win.  Game three was another back and forth game.  With the game knotted at 25-25, the Bulldogs took control on offense and pushed to the 30-27 win.  In game four, High Point jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead and held off another late UNCA run to pick up the 30-23 win and force a fifth game.  In game five, UNC Asheville jumped on top early and dictated the offense to come away with the 15-10 win.

With the victory, UNC Asheville advances to a Friday semifinal meeting with No. 2 seed Winthrop at 4:30 p.m. Top seeded Liberty and No. 5 seed Coastal Carolina play in the other semifinal.