GAME INFO
Saturday, Dec. 7 -- vs. Morehead State (Lynchburg, Va.), 4:30 p.m.
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The High Point University volleyball team (20-12) makes its fourth straight postseason appearance this Saturday (Dec. 7) when it plays Morehead State (23-9) in the first round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. The Panthers received a bid to the NIVC by being the best team in the Big South not attending the NCAA Tournament.
 
Matchup and Tournament History

• This is the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
• The NIVC is in its second iteration, with the first running from 1989-1995 and then starting again for the 2017 season.
• HPU is making its first appearance in the NIVC and fifth total postseason appearance after playing in the NCAA Tournament each of the last three seasons. The Panthers are still looking for their first postseason victory after bowing out in the first round in each NCAA Tournament appearance.
• Thirty-two teams are in the single-elimination tournament, played on campus sites of schools in the tournament. The first two rounds are played at eight different schools over two matchdays before transitioning to a single-game format for the quarterfinals through the championship.

 
Panther Notes

• High Point's last outing was a loss in the Big South Tournament to Campbell in the semifinals. The Panthers led 2-0 after the first two sets before losing in five.
• Sophomore Gabrielle Idlebird was named to the All-Tournament Team with 15 kills, three blocks, and a hitting percentage of .520 in the match.
• Four Panthers picked up a combined nine Big South awards this year, led by Kaley Rammelsberg being named the Freshman of the Year, the fourth time in the last seven years a member of the Purple and White has taken home the award.
• Rammelsberg was also named Second Team All-Conference and was named to the All-Freshman Team after leading the Panthers with a .342 hitting percentage in the regular season, second-best in the conference.
• Junior Abby Bottomley was named First Team All-Conference as well as the Big South's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Outside of the conference, she was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team, with a chance to be named an Academic All-American next week.
• Bottomley led the Big South in total digs and digs per set, entering the NIVC ranked 14th in the country in total digs and ninth in digs per set. She has 630 digs on the season so far, third-most in a season in program history. She needs 33 more this year to move into second place and 59 to take the top spot.
• Megan Kratzer and Annie Sullivan joined Rammelsberg on the All-Freshman Team and were both Honorable Mention All-Conference Players.
• The two were the only Panthers this year to record 20 kills in a single match, with Sullivan doing it early against Villanova and Kratzer reaching 20 against Radford twice.
• The duo collected Big South Freshman of the Week honors four times among them and Sullivan picked up High Point's only Player of the Week distinction this year.

 
Across the Bench

• Morehead State made it to the championship match of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, falling in straight sets to Southeast Missouri.
• Sophomore Hannah Keating and junior Olivia Lohmeier were named to the OVC All-Tournament Team after the match.
• Lohmeier was named to the All-OVC First Team after leading the conference in kills, points, kills per set, and points per set. She's currently 12 in the country in kills per set (4.80), seventh in points (606), 12th in points per set (5.27) and fifth in total kills (552).
• Joining her on the All-OVC First Team were classmate Lauren Rokey and OVC Freshman of the Year Bridget Bessler. Bessler was one of the nation's top setters, averaging 11.51 assists per set, putting her 11th in D1 and helping the Eagles sit eighth in the country in assists per set as a team and 11th in total assists.
• This is Morehead State's first postseason appearance since 2013 and second overall trip to the NIVC, attending once during the tournament's original run in the 1993 season.

 
The winner of Saturday's match will play on Sunday (Dec. 8) at 3 p.m. against the winner of the other match in Lynchburg, Va., between host and former Big South foe Liberty University and La Salle University.