Washington, D.C. – The High Point volleyball team traveled up to Howard University to take on the Bison. Taking it to four sets, the Panthers advanced their win streak to six.
High Point out hit Howard 43-33 with a .242 hit percentage compared to the Bison's .052 percentage. The Panthers were led by
Dylan Maberry with 16 kills after going 16-for-34 with a .324 hit percentage. Sharing the love, four other Panthers collected 5+ kills, including
BayLea Sparks (5),
Jayde Shelton (5),
Eve Wilson (6) and
Christine Graf (9). Sparks and Shelton put in work on the block, combining for nine of the teams 16 total blocks.
Allie Gray dished out 30 assists on the night.
Site: The Burr
Score: High Point 3, Howard 1
Records: High Point (11-6, 5-0), Howard (7-11, 3-2 MEAC)
Jumping out in the opening set, High Point went up 13-7. Back-to-back kills from Wilson extended it to 17-11. Continuing the momentum, a 23-15 lead helped the Panthers take set one.
Shelton and Wilson did damage on the block, stopping two back-to-back kills by the Bison to contribute to a 5-2 advantage at the start of the second set. Howard started connecting on hits following the Panthers early lead. Knocking down three kills, the Bison took their first lead of the match at 9-8.
After exchanging leads through 14 points, Howard pushed the lead to 22-15. Battling through the final points, the Panthers three-point run late in the set (23-19) was not enough to come back in set two.
Putting the second set behind them, High Point turned things around in the third and fourth. A 9-2 run midway through the third and a 7-0 run to start the fourth were big deciding factors in the final two sets.
Graf played a big role in lighting the fire back in the Panthers for set three. Two early kills for Graf initiated the run. High Point posted a 17-10 lead in the third and held the Bison to just three points, which came from the Panthers own errors. Five straight points for HPU solidified the 25-13 win.
The fourth set was much like the third. High Point only allowed Howard to earn six of the team's 11 total points from kills as five points were given to the Bison from the Panthers own mistakes. As for HPU, the Panthers earned 16 of the team's 25 points from the attack and capitalized on nine of the Bison's errors.
Overall, a team effort on the offensive and defensive sides made it a victorious evening for High Point, bringing back the 3-1 win.
UP NEXT:
High Point remains on the road for the next two games, in part of a five-game road streak. The Panthers will take on the Blue Hose of Presbyterian Friday, October 13
th at 6:00 pm before going to Charleston Southern Saturday afternoon for a matchup with the Buccaneers at 4:00 pm.
#GoHPU
