HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University Volleyball team welcomed USC Upstate to the Millis Center on Saturday afternoon for a Big South Conference matchup. The Panthers remain undefeated in conference play (8-0) and extended their win streak to 29 over Big South opponents with a 3-0 sweep over the Spartans.
 
"That was one of our most complete performances this season, Head Coach Ryan Meek stated. "Everyone that played contributed and performed well. We need to string more performances like that together. We were disciplined, physical and determined. BayLea and Kennedy came on into roles they're not used to and unlocked a lot of opportunities for us. It was a good to start to our five-match home-stand off with two sweeps."
 
High Point started in a 5-1 rotation with Allie Gray leading on the set. Gray directed the offense to an 11-5 early lead in the first set while picking up her own points with two dumps.
 
USC Upstate cut the gap to three at 15-12 after an HPU service error. Following the timeout by the Panthers, High Point pressed on to an 11-point lead at 24-13. Kennedy Louisell heated up late in the set registering three kills and a block in the last five points. HPU took set one 25-14.
 
In set two, the Spartans remained within reach through the first half of the set. After taking a 10-7 lead, the Panthers steadily cruised to an eight-point lead. With a balanced attack, Louisell led the match thus far with 10 kills (.556 hit percentage) followed by BayLea Sparks with seven, Eve Wilson with six and Dylan Maberry with five.
 
After a long rally to score the Panthers 23rd point, Jordyn Schilling dropped in a service ace before a Spartans attack error ended the set, 25-18.
 
The third set had a similar start to the second. High Point took a 6-3 lead with a kill from Sparks on a slide attack that was set up by Gray. Leading by one point at 10-9, HPU strung together three straight points with a kill from Maberry and two service aces from Schilling. The Spartans stuck around with a 3-0 run of their own to bring the set back within one point.
 
The Panthers picked up the intensity with a 7-2 run led by Louisell with five straight kills on the outside. After a 21-16 lead, High Point's attack sealed the deal registering the last four points of the match with three kills and a double-block, for the 25-16 win.
 
As a team the Panthers finished the match hitting .394 while dropping in nine service aces with seven blocks. Louisell led the match with 16 kills on a .483 hit percentage, while picking up three blocks.
 
Up Next:
High Point hosts Radford on Tuesday, October 29 at 6:00 p.m. inside the Millis Center. This will be the make-up game between High Point and Radford from September 27.