HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University volleyball team enters the Big South Championship this weekend as the No. 1 seed carrying an 18-match winning streak into play on Saturday.
 
The Panthers (23-6, 16-0) will play the winner of Friday's match between No. 4 UNC Asheville and No. 5 Liberty in Saturday's first semifinal.
 
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Tournament Central
Tournament Live Stats
Tournament Bracket
 
Schedule
Quarterfinal #1 | Friday | 4: 30 p.m. | No. 4 UNC Asheville vs. No. 5 Liberty
Quarterfinal #2 | Friday | 7:00 p.m. | No. 3 Campbell vs. No. 6 Winthrop
Semifinal #1 | Saturday | 4:30 p.m. | No. 1 High Point vs. TBD | Live Stream
Semifinal #2 | Saturday | 7:00 p.m. | No. 2 Radford vs. TBD | Live Stream
Championship | Sunday | 4:00 p.m. | TBD vs. TBD | Live Stream
 
PANTHER NOTES
Streak!
• The Panthers' 18-match winning streak is the fourth-longest active stretch in the nation and includes 13 sweeps and no five-set matches.
 
• Including the 2016 Big South Championship, HPU has defeated its last 21 conference foes – the fourth-longest active mark in America.
 
Top-50
For the first time in program history, the Panthers cracked the top-50 of the RPI and rank 44th in the latest poll. In fact, the program's seven highest rankings all-time have come this fall.
 
Coming Up Aces
• The Panthers rank seventh in the nation averaging 1.74 aces per set while senior Haley Barnes is 10th individually with 0.49 per frame.
 
• HPU had produced more aces than its opponent in every Big South match until tying Radford 7-7 in aces in the season finale.
 
• The team is 21-2 when serving more aces than its opponents.
 
Diggin' College
• Freshman Abby Bottomley is 44 digs away from breaking Julie Hershkowitz's HPU D-I freshmen record for digs in a season (583).
 
• The Virginia Beach, Va. native ranks 27th nationally with 5.24 digs per set, which is the program's third-highest single-season mark since High Point moved to D-I.
 
• Bottomley is a four-time Big South Defensive Player of the Week and two-time Freshman of the Week.
 
Efficient Attack
• Junior Molly Livingston leads the Big South and is No. 25 nationally hitting at a .397 clip this season.
 
• The Sun Prairie, Wis. product's .397 mark is the second highest by a Big South student-athlete since the NCAA moved to 25-point rally scoring in 2008.
 
• As a team, the Panthers are hitting .258, which is the highest in program history and the 33rd highest average in the country.
 
Barnes All Over the Record Books
• With 16 kills in the regular season finale, Barnes moved to second in HPU's Division I era in career kills with 1,374. She's behind on Jamie Kaufman's 1,597.
 
• Her next dig will tie her with Wavie Chin for sixth among D-I Panthers while the Neenah, Wis. native needs just 11 to also pass Jenelle Stouffer for fifth. Barnes enters the weekend with 1,148 career digs.
 
Blocking Duo
• Both Livingston and fellow junior Jordan Hefner have a chance to HPU's 300-block club this weekend. Livingston's next block would make her the fourth D-I Panther to achieve the feat while Hefner needs four.
 
• Livingston ranks third in the conference in blocks per set (0.97) while Hefner is 10th (0.83).
 
All-Big South Selections
• High Point claimed 11 postseason All-Big South awards including Barnes (Scholar-Athlete of the Year), Bottomley (Freshman of the Year) and Tom Mendoza (Coach of the Year) winning individual awards.
 
• Livingston was runner-up for Big South Player of the Year while Barnes and Bottomley joined her on the first team placing third and fourth in the voting.
 
• Junior Katie Tylman earned All-Big South Second Team honors while junior Jordan Hefner garnered Honorable Mention accolades.
 
• High Point placed two student-athletes on the all-freshman team as Katie Doering joined Bottomley on the list.
 
• Barnes' second straight selection to the Big South All-Academic Team rounded out HPU's honors.
 
Undefeated Big South Regular Season
• HPU became the 10th Big South team to go undefeated in league play while achieving the conference's first 16-0 mark.
 
• The Panthers are one of eight programs nationally with an unblemished conference mark.
 
• The previous undefeated Big South regular season champions went on to win the conference tournament in five of nine tries. However, the last four unblemished champs went on to win the postseason title as well.
 
Conference Dominance
• The Panthers went 48-4 in sets against Big South foes. It won't help this this weekend playing at Radford, but HPU didn't drop a set in the Millis Center in conference play.
 
• High Point led the Big South in hitting percentage, kills, assists and aces while ranking second in opponent hitting percentage and third in blocks.
 
HPU's Big South Championship History
• The Panthers are 9-16 all-time in Big South Championship with two titles (2010 and 2016).
 
• High Point enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed for the first time and has a 0-4 record against the tournament's No. 4 seed and has never taken on a No. 5 seed in the event.
 
• The Purple & White are 2-3 in the semifinal round, but have taken advantage of both trips to the championship game.
 
• HPU is 5-4 as the lower (better) seed in the event.
 
Record Against Tournament Opponents
No. 2 Radford

All-Time	23-19
Big South	20-18
Tournament	3-1

No. 3 Campbell

All-Time	17-13
Big South	8-6
Tournament	0-1

No. 4 UNC Asheville

All-Time	11-28
Big South	10-23
Tournament	1-3

No. 5 Liberty

All-Time	16-26
Big South	13-25
Tournament	3-2

No. 6 Winthrop

All-Time	11-26
Big South	11-24
Tournament	1-1

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