The High Point University volleyball team defeated Big South foe Charleston Southern, 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-19) on Saturday afternoon in front of a record crowd of 902 in the Millis Athletic Center.
"We had a great weekend capped off with a nice win today against a good Charleston Southern team," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "We played with energy all weekend and our serve receive and our defense really stepped up today and helped to carry us through this match and was the key for us being so efficient on offense. Charleston Southern is a very pesky and talented team, they give you a lot of different looks and we did a really good job of picking up their multiple attacks they threw at us and in limiting their runs."
High Point (15-3, 5-0 Big South) was led by Stephanie Wallin with 12 kills. Anna Lott and Audie Gonzalez both added nine each for the Panthers. Sophomore Julie Hershkowitz had a match-high 15 digs and Kristina Taylor tallied 40 assists.
"Julie Hershkowitz was unbelievable on defense today and Kristina Taylor did a great job of keeping our attack very balanced."
Leading the Lady Bucs (10-9, 1-3 Big South) was Emily Libertowski with 12 kills. Sam Sasan recorded a double-double with 11 assists and 12 digs. Amy Nokes had 12 assists.
In the opening set HPU and CSU traded points and were tied seven times. The Panthers broke open the scoring after being knotted at 17 and closed out the set with an 8-0 run that was highlighted by back-to-back kills from Wallin. A service ace from Tara Dyer on the final point gave HPU the 1-0 advantage in the match.
The Panthers controlled much of set two, taking the lead for good at 7-6. High Point led by as many as nine at 22-13. The Lady Bucs tried to put together a late rally but three straight kills from the Panthers put them up 2-0.
High Point led early in the third set, but Charleston Southern fought back to take the lead at 15-12. The Panthers would respond with six serve run from Gonzalez to take the lead back at 18-16. The Lady Bucs would never get any closer as High Point closed out the set outscoring CSU 7-4.
"Our sports marketing department continues to do a fantastic job of creating a tremendous atmosphere for our team to play in and it was exciting to play in front of 900 plus fans," Esposito said. "It makes it that much more special to play well in that type of atmosphere and crowd."
HPU will be back on the court on Tuesday, Oct. 7 when the team makes the short drive to Winston-Salem to face Winston-Salem State. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m.
