CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The High Point University volleyball team stayed unbeaten in Big South Conference play with a 3-1 victory over Charleston Southern University on Saturday, Oct. 12. The win improved the Panthers to 5-0 in conference play, setting up a battle for the top spot in the conference when HPU travels back to South Carolina next weekend against fellow conference unbeaten Winthrop.

"I'm happy with where we are right now heading into fall break. I think we're playing good team volleyball," head coach Ryan Meek had to say of his team's current run of success. "We know Winthrop will be a great test for us and we're looking forward to our matchup next weekend."
 
High Point wasted no time forcing its will on the match, opening the first set with an 8-1 run. Defense was key for the Panthers in that stretch, picking up three of those points on blocks. HPU's lead continued to grow through the middle of the set before Charleston Southern went on a 7-2 run to close the distance to 23-17. That's as close as CSU would get as High Point was able to fend the comeback attempt off, taking the set 25-18.
 
The Buccaneers came out hot in the second set, taking an 8-4 lead before the Panthers called timeout. Charleston So. kept the pressure on throughout the middle of the set, going on an 8-2 run to extend its lead to 18-10. Six straight points in that run were earned off of services, either via aces or errors, including an ace from freshman Macy Miller, High Point's first service ace of the match. The deficit proved too much for HPU to overcome and for the second match in a row and third in the last four, the match was knotted at one set each after two.
 
High Point seemed to put the second set behind it, coming out firing on all cylinders to start the third. The Panthers took a 7-1 lead to start the set before Charleston So. called timeout, and eventually extended the lead to 15-5 before the Bucs took their second timeout. At the time of the timeout, HPU had eight of its points in the set from kills to CSU's zero. Junior Abby Bottomley played a large role in keeping the Bucs at zero kills during that span, picking up nine digs in those first 20 points of the third set. Charleston So. never had a chance to fight back into the set, with the Panthers rolling to a 25-15 victory in the set to go up 2-1. Bottomley ended up with 13 digs in the third set. Her 31 total digs are the second most for her this season and the most in a four-set match for High Point.
 
HPU jumped out to an early lead in the fifth set and didn't look back, never trailing in the set on the way to a 25-20 win to close the match out. The win extends the Panthers' winning streak to five matches and gives High Point a win in 11 of its last 12 contests. HPU has been dominant so far in conference play, only dropping five total sets across five total matches. Megan Kratzer continued to be a force on offense, recording 15 kills to make it three straight matches with double-digit kills for the freshman.
 
The Panthers are back in action with another pair of road matches next weekend. HPU squares off with Winthrop on Friday, Oct. 18 in a battle of the Big South's two unbeatens before heading to Gardner-Webb on Saturday. First serve against the Eagles is scheduled for 6 p.m. while the match with the Runnin' Bulldogs will begin at 2 p.m.