HIGH POINT, N.C. – It was an exciting evening at the Millis Center on Thursday, as the High Point Women's Volleyball team dominated against the visiting Spartans of USC Upstate.
Sydney Palazzolo lit it up on her birthday, tagging a double-double with 19 kills and 12 digs. The 3-0 win is the Panthers eighth sweep of the season and third consecutive.
Ryan Meek - "Any time you win 3-0 you're happy, winning at any college levels is hard, in any college sport so we can't take that for granted. Overall, I thought the first set was very sloppy and I thought the second and third set we were better. As long as we are improving and not getting worse as the match goes on, I have to be okay with that."
Site: Millis Center
Score: High Point 3 (29, 25, 25), USC Upstate 0 (27, 17, 19)
Records: High Point (15-8, 8-1), USC Upstate (6-16, 3-6)
The first set between the two teams was not only a close and intense rally, the game went extra points before the match point was secured by the Panthers.
USC Upstate opened set 1 with some chatter, taking a 6-1 lead to start the game. High Point got it into gear with the help of Palazzolo,
Gabrielle Idlebird and
Maggie Salley as Palazzolo knocked one down, Idlebird served an ace and Salley added a kill to tie the set at eight all.
The Panthers still trailed until Salley collected another kill from the right side to give HPU the 14-13 lead. High Point held onto the lead until the Spartans went up 26-25 with a chance to call the set. Palazzolo did what Palazzolo does and stepped up to the challenge, keeping the Panthers alive with two hits to tie the set at 27 all. Two mistakes from USC Upstate sealed the deal for HPU, taking the first win of the night.
Set two started off close, until the halfway point, when the Panthers caught fire and set out on a 7-0 run. Within the mix was a kill by Idlebird and two back-to-back kills from
Dylan Maberry.
Kathryn Wesolich secured the match point for High Point with a hit from the middle to take set two, 25-17.
It was all gas and no brakes in set three for the Panthers. The set opened with a 5-0 lead before the Spartans sinched the gap to two. Mid-way through the set, USC Upstate made their own run of five to tie the game at 12 all.
The Panthers kept pushing and beat the Spartans 25-19 after the last kill of the night from
Megan Kratzer.
Up Next: High Point hosts Presbyterian on Friday, October 21
st for another Big South conference matchup. First serve is set for 5:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
