MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The High Point University volleyball team begins its third consecutive NCAA Tournament in Friday's first round matchup with No. 14 Marquette at 8 p.m. EST in Milwaukee, Wis.
 
The Panthers (21-9) are in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season and fourth overall for the program. Meanwhile, the No. 14 Golden Eagles (26-6) make their eighth appearance all coming in consecutive seasons.
 
MATCH INFORMATION
Fri., Nov. 30 | 8 p.m. EST | Marquette | Milwaukee, Wis. | Al McGuire Center
 
LINKS
Live Stats | Live Video | Tickets | NCAA Bracket
 
PANTHER NOTES
Dancing Three-Straight Years
High Point is making its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth overall. This team joins the 2010, 2016 and 2017 squads as NCAA participants.
 
Sweeping the Competition
Sixteen of the Panthers' 21 wins came in 3-0 sweeps. The dominance included a stretch of eight-straight and 10 of 11 during the Big South slate.
 
All-Time Against the Big East
High Point and Marquette have never met in volleyball. HPU is 2-1 all-time against Big East foes. The last match with a Big East team came earlier this season on Sept. 8 at Villanova. The Panthers took a 3-0 victory.
 
Previous NCAA Tournament Appearances
Friday's match will mark the first time HPU has faced the No. 14 seeded team in the NCAA Tournament. The previous three matches were against No. 12 Duke, No. 7 North Carolina and unseeded Purdue. High Point was defeated 3-0 by Duke in Durham, N.C. in 2010 before falling in three sets to the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, N.C. in 2016. Purdue defeated the Purple & White 3-1 in Salt Lake City, Utah last season.
 
All-Big South Teams
The Panthers picked up five All-Big South honors at the end of the 2018 season. Senior Molly Livingston was named Big South Player of the Year and First-Team All-Big South. Sophomore Abby Bottomley was the other Panther to take home First-Team All-Big South honors. Senior Katie Tylman was named All-Big South Honorable Mention and All-Academic Team, while senior Jordan Hefner was named All-Big South Second Team. Freshman Madison Smith rounded out the five with All-Big South Freshman Team honors.
 
Winning at Another Level
High Point became the program's first team to notch 20 wins in four straight seasons.
 
Record Versus NCAA Tournament Teams
The Panthers posted a 1-5 record against teams in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The win came at East Tennessee State, while the setbacks were against Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Utah and Pitt.
 
Record Breakers
• Livingston broke the HPU program blocks record with her 315^th career block. She currently has the record at 390 total blocks. Livingston also owns the top blocks per set average in HPU program history at 0.92. Hefner is right behind her with 360 career blocks.
 
• Livingston also owns the highest career attack percentage at .351 in HPU history. The senior from Sun Prairie, Wis. ranks in the top 10 in career kills (1,083), service aces (144) and solo blocks (67).
 
• With three more digs, Bottomley will be 10^th all-time in digs. She currently has the highest digs per set average in program history with two years to play.
 
• As a team, the Panthers posted a .235 hitting percentage, which ranks second all-time at HPU.
 
• The 2.00 blocks per set tallied by High Point in 2018 is the fourth highest total in the category in program history.
 
Big South Dominance
• During the 2018 season, the Panthers led the Big South in hitting percentage, assists per set, opponent's assists per set, kills, kills per set, opponent's kills and opponent's kills per set.
 
• In conference play, HPU was tops in the Big South in hitting percentage, opponent's hitting percentage, assists, opponent's kills per set, kills, opponent's kills, opponent's blocks, service aces and opponent's digs.
 
• Livingston led the league in hitting percentage, while Hefner ranked second.
 
• Bottomley was tops in the league in digs per set and ranked 28^th in the NCAA in the category.
 
On the Golden Eagles
• Allie Barber leads Marquette with 4.57 kills per set, while Jenna Rosenthal is tops on the team in hitting percentage at .386.
 
• Defensively, Martha Konovodoff leads the charge with 4.91 digs per set. At the net, Rosenthal leads the way with 0.97 blocks per set.
 
• Marquette fell in the Big East Championship Final to No. 9 Creighton, 1-3.
 
• Head coach Ryan Theis is in his fifth season as the coach of the Golden Eagles. He has compiled a 117-46 at the helm for Marquette. He has an overall record of 261-100.
 
• This is Marquette's eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles advanced passed the first round in 2011 and 2013.
 
NEXT UP
The winner of the match between High Point and No. 14 Marquette will take on the winner of Illinois State and Cincinnati on Saturday (Dec. 1) at 8:00 p.m. in Milwaukee, Wis.
 
#GoHPU