MATCH INFO

Saturday, August 21 -- at North Carolina (Chapel Hill, N.C.), 3 p.m. (Exhibition)
 
The High Point University volleyball team returns to the court after a short, four-month offseason for an exhibition match with North Carolina on Saturday (Aug. 21) at 3 p.m.
 

Matchup History

• High Point and North Carolina have met twice before in regular-season action, with the Tar Heels taking both in straight sets.
• The two last met in 2016 in Chapel Hill in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

 

Across the Bench

• UNC finished 10-8 last season and split matches across both the fall and spring seasons.
• Only two of those matches were against non-ACC foes as the Tar Heels opened the spring portion of their schedule with a sweep of Appalachian State before losing in straight sets to East Carolina.
• North Carolina had two players named to the ACC All-Freshman Team a season ago in Kaya Merkler and Aziah Buckner.
• Merkler led the Tar Heels with 146 kills and tied for the most blocks on the team with 52. Buckner was fourth on the squad with 114 kills during the 2020 season and was third in service aces with 12.
• Junior Parker Austin was UNC's offensive leader a season ago, averaging 2.75 kills per set while hitting .169.
• Skyy Howard was the led defender at the net for the Heels and averaged 1.21 blocks per set while Karenna Wurl returns as the only UNC player to average over three digs per set with an average of 4.13.

 

Panther Notes

 

Last Season

After a quick four months off after playing the 2020 season in the spring, High Point is looking to replicate its performance this fall. HPU went a perfect 16-0 in the regular season to win the Big South title and advance to the NCAA Tournament, where the Panthers took home a victory in the tournament for the first time in program history.
 

Postseason Panthers

HPU's five-set victory over UCF in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in April marked High Point's NCAA Tournament victory since joining Division I in 1999, joining the women's lacrosse team from 2017 as the only High Point programs to win an NCAA Tournament game. Prior to the spring, HPU had been to the NCAA Tournament four times and had won a total of one set over the four matches.
 

Picked #1 (Again)

High Point was predicted to win the Big South again this season, making it six years in a row the Panthers have been predicted to finish atop the conference. HPU garnered 119 points and 10 of the 11 possible first-place votes. The Purple and White's 14-point clearance over second-place Campbell in the poll is the largest point discrepancy between the top two spots since former Big South member Liberty finished 21 points ahead of Radford in the 2012 preseason poll.
 

Preseason Honors

Two Panthers were named to the Big South Preseason All-Conference Team, highlighted by Preseason Player of the Year Madison Smith. Smith is the lone returning First Team All-Conference selection HPU had in 2020 and finished second on the team in kills with 172 for an average of 2.97 per set. Joining her on the Preseason All-Conference Team is Gabrielle Idlebird after finishing second on the Purple and White in hitting percentage with a .384 clip that put her 30th in the country.
 

Road Warriors

Including the exhibition match at UNC, High Point will begin its 2021 season with 18 matches away from home, including the entirety of its non-conference schedule. HPU doesn't play in front of the Millis Faithful until Oct. 8, against Campbell, the first of eight home matches on the schedule.
 

Iron Sharpens Iron

The 13 teams the Purple and White will face in non-conference action have combined for 13 NCAA Tournament appearances in the last two years with five teams (Army, Bowling Green, BYU, Illinois State, Pitt) joining HPU in last year's 48-team field in Omaha. The Panthers' non-conference opponents combined for a 148-54 record (.733 winning percentage) during the 2020-21 campaign, with only the Ivy League's Columbia not competing at all during the year.
 

Feels Like the First Time

Columbia is one of five new opponents HPU will face for the first time in 2021. Along with the Lions, High Point will take the court for the first time against Army, BYU, Fairfield, and Illinois State.
 

Defense Wins Championships

High Point got the job done with its defense last year, holding opponents to hitting just .103, the fifth-lowest opponent hitting percentage in the country. HPU held its opponent to hitting under .200 in 15 of the 18 matches played and held its opponent under .100 11 times.
 

Newcomers

HPU brought in five new players for the 2021 season with four freshmen and one transfer. Dylan Maberry switched out one shade of purple for another after transferring in from LSU while Claire Arend, Jackie Joyce, Sydney Palazzolo, and Jenny Wessling join the team as freshmen.
 

UP NEXT

The Panthers begin their regular season next weekend in Harrisonburg, Va. with the JMU Invitational. High Point plays the host Dukes on Friday (Aug. 27) at 5 p.m., followed by Illinois State on Saturday (Aug. 28) at 2:30 p.m. before finishing the tournament out with VCU on Sunday (Aug. 29) at 1 p.m.