HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women's volleyball team is set to play the University of Southern California in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as announced during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday night (November 27). The Panthers claimed the Big South Championship with a 3-0 sweep against Campbell on Sunday night to earn the automatic bid. The first serve is set for 5:00 PM in the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Ryan Meek's thoughts on the tournament, "This is what you do it for, you know, you start with 340 or so team's at the beginning of the season and to be one of those 64 is awesome. You want to say it's just another match but it's not, it's one you've been working for all year. As a reward for our girls for working so hard all year, for being the champs in the Big South, I think to cap off your season in the championship tournament is really cool."
Meek stated the importance of their strength of schedule leading into the matchup as well. HPU played a number of power teams throughout the non-conference slate, including No. 1 Texas, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 24 Marquette, Kennesaw State, Pitt, Houston and UNC.
Palazollo emphasized "I was really excited. It's a really good team and I'm really excited to play them. I've never gotten to play in the tournament so I'm pretty happy about that".
High Point's Path to the NCAA Tournament
High Point women's volleyball won it's second Big South Tournament in three seasons as
Sydney Palazzolo was named the Tournament MVP joined by
Dylan Maberry and
Sopheea Mink on the All-Tournament Team. HPU's automatic bid secured the program's sixth trip to the NCAA tournament in program history, with the most recent being two years ago during the 2020-21 season.
This Season with the Panthers
High Point finished the regular season with a 23-9 overall record and 14-2 record in conference play. Despite dropping two Big South regular season games, the Panthers finished as the Big South Regular Season Co-Champs with Campbell. Following the completion of the regular season, Palazzolo was named the Big South Player of the Year and
Ally Van Eekeren was named the Big South Setter of the Year.
HPU drew the No. 2 seed heading into the conference tournament as Campbell drew the No. 1 seed. In the opening round of postseason, HPU hosted No. 3-seed Winthrop at the Millis Center, defeating the Eagles 3-1. Palazzolo and Maberry combined for 43 kills while Van Eekeren tabbed a season-high 48 assists to lead the Panthers to victory.
After dropping both regular season games to Campbell, the Panthers turned up the heat in the Big South Championship against the Camels, taking the title with a clean sweep. Palazzolo helped the team the NCAA automatic bid with 16 kills and nine digs on the day.
#GoHPU
