The High Point University volleyball team fell to Big South rival UNC Asheville, 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-13, 22-25, 4-15) on Saturday afternoon at the Millis Athletic Center. HPU falls to 21-4 on the season and 9-1 in League play while UNCA improves to 11-11 and 3-6 in the Big South.
Stephanie Wallin recorded 15 kills in the match while Lindsay Raus and Audie Gonzalez added 13 each. Gonzalez recorded another double-double adding a team-high 25 digs. Kristina Taylor had a double-double with a match-high 47 assists.
For the Bulldogs Cindi Miller, Heather Burns and Kelsey Benorden each had 16 kills. Kaitlyn McDaniel had 39 assists. Raquel Miotto tallied 42 digs.
The first set was a battle between the two teams with High Point holding the largest lead of the set at 11-6. Asheville went on a run to knot the set at 11. The last tie came at 20 before Asheville's Benorden went on a four serve run to put the Bulldogs up 23-20. A kill from Miller on the serve from HPU gave UNCA set point while a kill by Rachel Olivio sealed the set for the Bulldogs.
In the second set High Point took an early lead at 11-8 off a kill from Raus. The Bulldogs responded to tie the set at 15, but was unable to take the lead. High Point opened up the lead again, but Asheville pulled to within on at 24-23. A kill from Wallin on the final rally knotted the match at one set each.
High Point came out strong in the third set and jumped out to a quick 14-7 lead. The Panthers took their largest lead of the set at 23-10. HPU rolled to the third set win to go up 2-1 in the match.
The Panthers again came out strong in the fourth set, going up 10-5, but Asheville slowly fought back and tied the set at 17 off back-to-back kills from Burns. The Panthers held on to the lead and were up 21-20, but the Bulldogs closed out the set with a 5-1 run to force set five.
In the fifth frame Asheville dominated, taking a quick 8-3 lead behind the serving of McDaniel. The Bulldogs closed out the set with a 7-1 run to secure the victory.
"It was really a tough match, a defensive battle," said head coach Chad Esposito. "Asheville came up with some unbelievable saves the entire match and really put the pressure on us to terminate balls. I thought we played well enough at times to win, but we just had some mental lapses and hitting errors that took away our advantage, particularly in set four. We were a little hampered with some indecisiveness and miscommunication on the court today. We really need to get back to the way we can play and just have better focus every time out."
High Point will be back in action on Tuesday, Oct. 28 when they travel to Radford to face off with the Highlanders. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m.
