HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Panthers continued their momentum from Friday night with another dominant performance inside the Millis Center on Saturday afternoon. HPU took care of business against the Winthrop Eagles, holding them to under 16 points in each set for the 3-0 sweep. The Panthers remain undefeated in Big South conference play and advance to 11-0.
"It was a really good match and a really good weekend for us", head coach
Ryan Meek commented. "Any time you double sweep is awesome, and to do it in the fashion that we did last night and tonight against a team that was second in the conference I think is massive. We held both teams this weekend to under .050 and we hit over .300, so we can't ask for much more than that from our girls."
Site: Millis Center
Score: High Point 3, Winthrop 0
Records: High Point (18-6, 11-0), Winthrop (10-12, 9-2)
The first set opened in close proximity, but once the Panthers got the steam rolling, there was no stopping the HPU train. High Point went on multiple runs in each set, taking as large as nine-point leads.
"Our girls did a good job being detail oriented, playing great defense and being great on the block," Meek added.
A big factor in the HPU success was the scrappy and solid defense from the backline.
Jordyn Schilling,
Regina Tijerina and
Kea Whillock combined for 31 of the teams 55 digs with Schilling leading with 15. All three were all over the floor picking up tips off the block and deep balls hit to the back, keeping the ball alive anyway they could using one arm and pancake techniques.
"I think when we are serving the ball tough, playing great on defense and blocking well, it makes it hard to score for anybody and it leads to easy offense," Meek pointed out. "You get a good serve, you get and easy ball back, you can turn that into points."
On the attack,
Allie Gray did a good job spreading the kills across the front line.
Eve Wilson led the team with 11 kills, followed by
Christine Graf with 10,
Dylan Maberry and
Jayde Shelton with nine each and
BayLea Sparks with five. As a team, the Panthers hit .333 with four out of the five main hitters hitting over .400.
"The girls have worked so hard to develop a well-oiled machine offensively," Meek stated. "When Eve is getting kills on the right we can go pin to pin and then it can open up Dylan on the big too. Really establishing that right side of the court was huge early in the game with Jayde and Eve."
UP NEXT:
High Point remains at home on Friday November 3 for a Big South matchup with Charleston Southern at 6:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
