Three players tallied double digit kills to lead the High Point University volleyball team past Big South foe Radford, 3-1 (28-30, 30-26, 30-24, 31-29) on Saturday, Sept. 29 in the Millis Center. The Panthers improve to 10-6 (1-2 Big South) while the Highlanders fall to 4-13, (0-3 Big South).

HPU's Ashley Mellott led the all attackers with a match high 25 kills. Ashley Johnson added 16 while Lindsay Raus tallied 11. Junior setter Kristina Taylor had a double-double with 49 assists and 12 digs.

"We really struggled today with execution in certain rotations," High Point University head coach Chad Esposito said. "[Ashley] Mellott really stepped up today and we were able to go on a couple of runs."

For the Highlanders Lindsey Poole led with 19 kills while Maggie Wagner had a double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs. Setter Josie Hanners had 41 assists.

In the opening game High Point jumped out to a 14-5 as Julie Hershkowitz and Audie Gonzalez combined for nine serves, but Radford would rally behind the serving of Hanners to close the gap to 17-14. The Highlanders would keep the game close and take the lead at 28-29. On the final possession an attack error from Mellott would give the Highlanders the 1-0 advantage in the match.

The Highlanders came out strong in the second frame to take an early five point lead (10-5), but Gonzalez went on a service run to close the gap at 10-12. High Point would even the score four times before pulling ahead at 20-19 off a kill from Taylor. HPU would pull ahead by five, and go on to take the game and even the match at one game each.

Radford would take an early lead in the third game, but High Point would not go away and took the lead for good at 8-7 off a kill from Mellott. The Highlanders came as close as 19-17 off a Wagner kill, but HPU went on an 11-5 run to close out the game and take a 2-1 advantage.

High Point came out in the final game and took an early 11-5 lead, but Radford rallied to close the gap at 14-13. The Panthers' Lauren Hatch went a on a short service run to pull the team ahead by five (18-13). RU pulled even with HPU on the crucial 29th point of the game but back-to-back kills from Johnson would seal the win for the Panthers.

"Despite struggling throughout the match," said Esposito. "I was really proud of how we were able to find a way to overcome the bad situations and with how we were really able to come together as a team and respond positively."

High Point will be back in action on Oct. 2 at home in the Millis Center against Gardner-Webb. Game time is set for 7 p.m.