The High Point University volleyball team defeated St. Francis 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-21) on Friday afternoon at the University of Buffalo Classic. High Point will play another game on Friday, facing host team, Buffalo at 7:00 p.m.
"Overall it was a good first match for us," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito. "After traveling such a long distance it was good to be able to get moving, to get focused and to really get our energy up and going. We came out in the first match of the tournament and was really able to get the cobwebs out, get our game plan worked out, and to get use to the environment we're in which we're playing."
Sophomore Stephanie Wallin recorded 14 kills and had a hitting percentage of .500 to lead the Panthers (8-2) over St. Francis. Audie Gonzalez recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs. Senior Kristina Taylor notched 19 assists while rookie setter Holly Fong had 15. Julie Hershkowitz and Lauren Hatch had 15 and 12 digs, respectively.
For the Terriers (0-13) Detelina Dimitrova had six kills. Toni Rich had 14 assists and 17 digs for a double-double. Liliana Rodriguez had 18 digs while Melissa Manning added 15.
"St. Francis really played solid defense," Esposito said. "It created some challenges for us, but we were able to respond well to those. Our defense really got going to help offset what their defense was doing."
High Point and St. Francis kept the first set close until HPU went on a short run to take a 13-8 advantage. SFC pulled to within one off a kill from Dimitrova, but on the next serve Wallin responded with a kill of her own to give the Panthers the serve. The Panthers went on a 12-1 run which featured five kills from Wallin to cruise to the 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set the two teams traded points and were tied at 12. HPU scored the next 10 points as Wallin served seven straight before Samantha Baden entered to serve the next two. High Point rolled to the win, outscoring the Terriers 13-2 in the second half of the set.
HPU and SFC again traded points in the opening part of the third set, and were tied at 17 before High Point went on one of its runs to take the 20-17 lead. The Terriers would not back down and closed the gap at 19-21, but two is as close as St. Francis would come as HPU claimed the third set and the match.
"We were able to give some of the other players on the roster some significant playing time which is always good. Wallin stepped in for us in the middle and played a tremendous match for us. She was a dominant force for us offensively. It was great to get that first win in the tournament, but we're going to have a tougher match this evening. We have to get focused and try to play even better in the second match of the day."
