PROVO, Utah – The High Point volleyball team kicked off the 2024 season at the doTERRA Classic hosted by Brigham Young University. On Friday the Panthers battled against two top mid-major opponents, opening the day with a 3-1 win over Fairfield University and finishing the evening with a strong comeback over Southeastern Louisiana for a 3-2 win.
"It's our first weekend so I'm still learning this team," head coach
Ryan Meek stated. "What I learned today is they have a ton of grit. In both matches we started slow but figured some things out, made adjustments and problem solved. It was not pretty but we got the results we wanted. We needed everyone on the roster today to get these two wins and we had them."
On the attack, High Point was led by graduate student,
Dylan Maberry with a combined 32 kills between the two games. Following suit,
Arica Davis the senior middle blocker put in work on the attack and the block in her season debut, combining for 18 kills and 19 blocks. Turning up the heat in the match versus Southeastern Louisiana, Davis produced a double-double with 10 kills and 13 blocks. Her 13 blocks set a new program single-match record and her 10 assisted blocks tied the single-match record.
High Point vs. Fairfield
After dropping set one to the Stags, High Point took care of business and defeated Fairfield with three straight wins. In set two, both teams continued to exchange points until a late push by the Panthers with a 7-0 run stretch the set and boosted the momentum into the next two sets.
Élodie Lalonde entered the match for the first time in set two and made an impact as a freshman with her first two collegiate kills. She finished the match with seven kills, two blocks and five digs.
The Panthers went on to take care of the fourth and final set with another large run, advancing to a 23-11 lead. HPU collected six kills during the 10-0 run with three kills from
Eve Wilson and a kill from Maberry, Lalonde and
Addison Freeland in her freshman debut.
High Point vs. Southeastern Louisiana
HPU took on Southeastern Louisiana for the first time in program history and after going down 2-0 in sets, the Panthers fought back to take the match 3-2. In the third set, High Point took advantage of SLU's errors and slowly chipped away to gain a 3-5 point lead. Two kills and a service ace finished out the set with the 25-22 victory.
In the fourth set, High Point had another slow start allowing the Lions to go up 3-0 but four straight kills form the front line put HPU back on top. Maberry kept the Panthers in the lead knocking in balls from the outside pin. Southeastern Louisiana caught a hot streak mid-way through the set, taking a 13-10 lead in hopes to gain momentum and finish off the match but the Panthers stayed focused and set out on a 6-0 lead to go up 16-13.
Three straight kills from Maberry gave High Point a 24-18 lead before an attack error by the Lions forced the fifth set.
High Point carried the energy into the final set and was the first team to eight points with a four-point lead. A big time kill, and two big time blocks helped HPU to a 12-7 advantage after SLU closed the set to one point at 8-7. The front line connected on three kills to give the Panthers the 15-9 set win and the match victory.
Also contributing to High Point's two victories were
Jordyn Schilling with 41 digs and
Allie Gray with 90 assists.
Up Next:
High Point is scheduled to play BYU on Saturday, August 31 at 9:00 p.m. ET for the team's final game of the doTERRA Classic. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
#GoHPU
