Site: Radford, Va. (Donald D. Dedmon Center)
Score: High Point 3, Radford 1, (23-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-23)
Records: HPU: 17-9 (9-1 Big South), RAD: 8-14 (4-6 Big South)
Next HPU Event: Saturday, Nov. 2 -- vs. Florida State (Millis Center; High Point, N.C.), 1 p.m.
 
RADFORD, Va. -- The High Point University volleyball team hit 60 kills for the second consecutive match in a 3-1 win over Radford on Friday, Nov. 1. Freshman Megan Kratzer was responsible for a third of the team's kills, finishing with 20 on the night to match her career-high, also set against Radford earlier in the year. The win completes the season sweep of the Highlanders as the Panthers trailed 2-0 at home earlier in the year before coming back to win a five-set thriller.
 
"I thought we did a great job recovering and responding to adversity," head coach Ryan Meek said. "I thought we came out and played fantastic for the second set and parts of the third and fourth but needed to keep improving at playing through tough moments. Any win against Radford is going to be hard-fought and I'm proud of our effort and grit to pull the win out."
 
High Point led for most of the first set, thanks to a service run from Kratzer that included a service ace and a pair of kills from classmate Maggie Salley as part of a six-point run to open a four-point lead for the Panthers. HPU held the lead until Radford knotted the set at 20-20 before taking the lead three points later at 22-21. High Point tied the set at 22-22 but only picked up one more kill, courtesy of a Kratzer kill, before the Highlanders attained the necessary 25th point.
 
The Panthers were all over Radford in set two, hitting .316 while holding the hosts at .000. The first set was the only set the Highlanders hit over .100, finishing the match with a .070 hitting percentage to High Point's .196. HPU stormed out to an 8-3 lead early and didn't look back, extending it to as much as nine points at 17-8.
 
Radford went on a small run right after that to make it a five-point set but that's as close as the Highlanders got, with the Panthers picking up where they left off to close the set out at 25-17 on a kill from Krater. Sophomore setter Mackenzi Thornburg did her best work in the stanza, picking up 10 of her career-high 30 assists in the set.
 
HPU took another early lead in the third set, going up 9-4 and maintaining a five-point until extending it to eight points, thanks to a service ace from freshman Macy Miller, kills from classmates Kaley Rammelsberg and Sopheea Mink and a pair of kills from Kratzer. The lead got up to nine when the Panthers needed only four more points to win at 21-13 but the Highlanders made it interesting, going on a 10-3 run to make it a one-point affair at 24-23. Radford's luck in the set ran out there though, as an attack error from the hosts put High Point one set away from pulling off the season sweep of Radford.
 
The Highlanders took an early lead in the fourth set, up by two until the Panthers went on a six-point run to take a 13-9 lead and force Radford to call a timeout. Rammelsberg picked up a kill to start the run and went back to serve. Sophomore Gabrielle Idlebird tallied a kill next, followed by a trio of kills from Kratzer and a service ace from Rammelsberg to force the timeout. The run was extended to seven points after the timeout before the Highlanders picked up four points in a row to cut the lead to one, 14-13.
 
One point was as close as Radford got for the rest of the match. It happened four more times throughout the rest of the set, but with the score sitting at 24-23 it was Kratzer answering the call to pick up her 20th kill of the night to end the match.
 
HPU returns home to the Millis Center tomorrow, Nov. 2 for a 1 p.m. showdown with Florida State. The match is High Point's 'Day of the Dead' match, with the first 100 students receiving a Panther Sugar Skull hat and all fans in attendance receiving High Point University Sugar Skulls.