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The High Point University volleyball team swept Liberty Friday in front of a packed crowd at the Millis Center. Three Panthers put up double-digit kills to lead HPU to the 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-16) win in front of 708 fans.

Freshman Kristin Heldt led the team with 11 kills while classmate Chelsea Davis and junior Courtney Johnk each posted 10 kills. Junior middle blocker Jamie McDonald notched eight kills and three blocks for HPU. Junior libero Molly Barlow had a career-high 20 digs and Lauren Bell dished out 36 assists.

“We came out with the energy and focus it takes to beat a really good Liberty team,” said head coach Jason Oliver. “This is the first time we played that way for an entire match. We got locked in early and defended our home court with the support of a great crowd.”

HPU improves to 2-2 in Big South play while the Flames took their first league loss, dropping to 3-1.

The Panthers led from the start of the first set and fought off a late run by Liberty to win the frame 25-22. Davis had an ace to bring up a Panther set point 24-17 but the Flames ran off five straight points to make it a 24-22 match. Erica Manor had a kill to start the run and HPU made four straight errors forcing Oliver to take a timeout. Heldt recorded her second kill of the set to win it for HPU out of the break, 25-22.

The Flames made another late run in the second set, battling back from a 22-17 HPU lead to knot the score 23-23. Bell went with the experienced attacker for the win, dishing the ball out to Johnk for back-to-back kills to win the set.

In the final set HPU outhit Libery .289 to .105 on the way to a 25-16 win. Davis had four kills in the set while Heldt, Johnk and Michelle Chakirelis each had three. Barlow had 11 of her career-high 20 digs in the final set.

Davis, Johnk and McDonald all added three blocks to their stat totals. Davis finished the match with a .526 attack percentage and six digs. Bell added nine digs and two blocks to her 36 assists. The Panthers had 53 team digs while Liberty came up with just 39.

The Panthers return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m. to face Radford. HPU won all three matches with the Highlanders last season including knocking RU out of the Big South Tournament.