Despite four players recording double digit kills, the High Point University volleyball team fell to Elon 3-2 (27-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-20, 9-15) on Wednesday evening at Alumni Gymnasium.
Leading the Panthers (10-3) was Lindsay Raus with 18. Stephanie Wallin added 14 while Audie Gonzalez and Ashley Mellott each had 13. Kristina Taylor had 56 assists and Julie Hershkowitz had 27 digs.
For the Phoenix (11-5) Traci Stewart led with 16 kills while Caroline Lemke had 10. Megan McMahon had 36 assists and 20 digs to lead the team.
"Really disappointed in the way we opened the match," said head coach Chad Esposito. "We came out very flat and very stagnate on offense. We didn't really move our feet like we needed to do. Elon played with a lot of energy, and we had to make some adjustments at halftime. Unfortunately we had already dug ourselves into a hole that we had to climb out of."
In the opening set the two teams battled over the opening points before High Point opened up a 10-6 lead. The Panthers held on to the lead until the Phoenix went on a short run to tie the set at 16. Elon took the lead on the next rally and was up 20-18 before HPU retook the lead at 22-21. Elon and High Point tied at 22, 24 and 25 before Elon put together consecutive rallies to take the 1-0 set advantage in the match.
Elon started the second set strong and jumped out to an 11-7 advantage. High Point responded with a 5-1 run to tie the set at 12, but Elon went on a run of its own to retake the lead at 17-13. The Phoenix held on to the lead until a kill from Mellott gave the Panthers back the lead at the 19-18 mark. Elon and HPU traded points and were tied at 23, but Elon again closed out the set with two to lead the match 2-0.
High Point dominated the third set, taking a quick 13-5 lead highlighted by a service run from Taylor which included back-to-back kills by Mellott. Elon tried to come back and closed the gap to 13-7, but High Point closed out the set with a 21-6 run to take the win.
In the fourth set Elon took a quick lead, going up 10-5 to open. High Point battled back and closed the gap to two (12-10). The Phoenix held off the Panthers until HPU tied the set at 17. The Panthers went on an 8-3 run to close out the set and tie the match at two each.
Elon took a quick lead in the fifth set and led the entire set. The closest HPU came was two at the 6-4 mark.
"We have to learn to come out strong to start the matches," Esposito said. "The last two matches we have spotted teams the first two sets. We have to fix that before we hit conference play this weekend."
The Panthers open the Big South schedule on Friday when they travel to UNC Asheville for a 7:00 p.m. start time. HPU will then head to Clinton, S.C. for a Saturday match against Big South newcomer, Presbyterian.
