• Freshman and reigning Big South Player of the week Annie Sullivan led the way for HPU with a match-high 18 kills. 
• Panthers led in 5 categories statistically including points, blocks, kills, assists, digs, and hitting percentage. 

Columbia, SC- High Point dropped a highly competitive contest 3-1 to South Carolina. The Panthers showed tremendous heart taking their fourth match in three days to a 4th set. Freshman Annie Sullivan played a big role in the Panthers' effort recording a match-high 18 kills. Maggie Salley added 7 kills for the Panthers. The match went back and forth as HPU was tied with their SEC opponent 23 times throughout the evening. The lead would change 9 times.

"I really liked our fight and energy tonight." Head coach Ryan Meek said. "We had a lot of great moments but need to be more consistent throughout the match. Overall it was a great week for us going 4-1 with three sweeps. Now we need to get ready for conference to get going next week!"

The Panthers started with a strong energy and were able to maintain it for a majority of the match, HPU made South Carolina work. HPU opened up the first set and applied pressure to the Gamecocks right away. High Point would cause South Carolina to call the first timeout of the match after jumping out to a 15-12 lead in the first set. South Carolina would respond and were able to take the first set 25-19.

The second set was back and forth from the beginning neither led by more than three at any time throughout the set. Maggie Salley made some big plays in the middle of the second set providing 2 kills that would help spark a Panther comeback. High Point trailed by three with the score at 20-17. South Carolina looked to be in control, HPU called timeout. After the timeout, High Point would go on a 6-2 run to go up 23-22. The set would go beyond 25, South Carolina won the set 26-24.

The Panthers responded to the Gamecock's 2-0 lead and took a set of their own in the third. The Panthers opened the third set with a 10-4 lead. South Carolina would storm back and make it 14-12, South Carolina trailed by 2. Abby Bottomley would go back to serve and create space between the Panthers and the Gamecocks. Bottomley's service ace put the Panthers up 18-13. Later, a Maggie Salley kill would put the panthers up 24-17. Sopheea Mink recorded a kill right after Salley's securing the win of the 3rd set 25-17.

High Point forced a fourth set, the pattern of many Panthers making contributions continued this time it was freshman Megan Kratzer who recorded 3 kills in the set. The reigning Big South Player of the Week had a big 4th set as well with 5 kills. USC would win the 4th set 25-18. The Gamecocks won the match 3-1.

Fresh off her Wildcat Classic All-Tournament Team selection the night before, Abby Bottomley had another big performance defensively with a match-high 18 digs. Gabrielle Idlebird led the match in two categories, hitting percentage with a percentage of .571 and blocks with 7. Sopheea Mink was second in blocks with 5.

The South Carolina win brought an end to the Panthers impressive 6 game win streak. The Panthers went 4-1 this week and take that momentum into conference play. 
 

Up Next: The Panthers host the Radford Highlanders as Big South Conference play starts on Saturday for HPU at 2 PM in the Millis Center.

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