SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Getting back into Big South Conference play on Friday night, the High Point University Panthers took on USC Upstate in a five-set battle. After taking the opening two sets on the Spartans, USC Upstate battled back and forced a fifth set. High Point did not play games in the fifth set and earned the 15-5 win and 3-2 match victory.
"I'm really excited about the way our team responded tonight", Head Coach
Ryan Meek stated after the game. "Upstate was unbelievable defensively… found ways to score against us all night, served tough and always seemed to be one step ahead of us.
We stumbled a bit to respond but we did big time in the 5th set. I'm really proud of us for overcoming a difficult situation and walking out of here with a win tonight."
HPU was led by
Dylan Maberry (19), Élodie Lalonde (14) and
BayLea Sparks (10) on the attack as all three reached double figures. Lalonde's 14 kills were a new career-high for the freshman while Sparks matched her season-high with 10. Sparks also recorded a career-high 13 blocks which tied the program record for single-game blocks which was set earlier this season by
Arica Davis in the season-opener.
Three Panthers also registered double-digit digs, led by
Jordyn Schilling and
Brooke Briscoe with 17 while Maberry picked up 14. Briscoe recorded a season-high with her 17 digs.
The biggest area that HPU dominated in was the block. High Point made it very difficult for USC Upstate to find open gaps on the court because they could not get past the first line of defense at the net. The Panthers out blocked the Spartans 19-5 on the night.
High Point looked smooth in the first two sets and in set one, they stretched on a 7-0 run to go up 17-11. USC Upstate never backed down in any set and cut the first set to two points at 22-20. A kill from Lalonde and two errors for the Spartans gave HPU set one with a 25-21 win.
Set two witnessed more back-and-forth action as both teams exchanged points early. The Panthers trailed 15-12 before a 7-1 run put them back in the lead at 19-16. High Point maintained the lead, and only allowed the Spartans to come within three. The panthers took set two 25-19.
High Point experienced some difficulty in sets three and four. USC Upstate remained scrappy and took advantage of minor mistakes by the Panthers. After a close battle in set three, the Spartans gained momentum late in the set scoring seven straight points to take a 25-19 win.
In set four the teams took it down to the wire in extra points. Three late kills by Maberry kept High Point in the set but two kills by the Spartans Allison Palmi ended the set at 27-25.
High Point answered the wake-up call in the fifth set. Not backing down, HPU came out of the break and pressed on an 8-3 lead at the mid-way switch. After advancing to a 12-4 lead, the Spartans only picked up one more point off an error from HPU, ending the set 15-5 for the Panthers third win in conference play.
Up Next:
The Panthers remain in Spartanburg, South Carolina for a matchup on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against UNC Asheville, hosted at USC Upstate. There will not be a stream for this match.
#GoHPU
