ASHEVILLE, N.C. – On Saturday afternoon, the High Point University volleyball team picked up its third consecutive sweep of the Big South Conference season with a 3-0 victory at UNC Asheville.
The Panthers had a balanced front line led by
Maya Bukovcan with nine kills,
Aisha Keric and Élodie Lalonde with eight kills, and
Ryley Boyne with six kills. Bukovcan recorded her best hitting percentage of the season going 9-for-10 on the attack to hit .900 for the match and set a new program record, previously set by Gabrielle Idlebird in 2022 (.846, 11-13).
Kea Whillock and Lalonde led the back row with double digit digs each.
"Tonight, we showed toughness playing in an awesome environment against the team we had to beat for the conference tournament title last year," Head Coach
Ryan Meek stated. "We had to compete and figure things out in the match, and I thought we won doing different things well which is great to see."
Site: Justice Center
Score: High Point 3, UNC Asheville 0
Record: High Point (9-4,3-0), UNC Asheville (13-6, 1-2)
High Point came out swinging, scoring the first three points of the match off strong kills to take a 3-0 early lead.
Addison Freeland put down a kill in the middle to give HPU a 7-4 advantage. UNC Asheville tied the set at 10 all but the Panthers followed up with a five point run after Bukovcan hammered down a kill and secured a block.
After leading 15-10 at the media timeout, HPU continued to lead the set as the Bulldogs stayed within reach trailing the Panthers 19-17. Freeland put down a middle kill, followed by back-to-back blocks from HPU with the help of Bukovcan, Keric and Lalonde to lead 22-17.
Sydney McKay landed a service ace to put High Point within set point. A UNC Asheville attack error gave the Panthers the 25-19 set win.
HPU started set two trailing 6-2. Catojo tipped over a dump at the net to give the team its third point of the set but it was not enough to get the Panthers offensive momentum flowing. High Point trailed as much as 10-4 early in the set before Keric heated up with back-to-back kills on the right side with an assist from
Ryley Boyne, closing the gap to 10-7.
The Panthers continued to trail until Boyne and Freeland put down kills and Bukovcan served in a nasty ace on the back corner to tie the set at 14 all. The Bulldogs took back their lead 18-15. High Point tied the set at 18 all and then again at 21 and 23 all. Bukovcan sent over a hit for a point for the Panthers followed by a solo block at the net from Freeland to take set two 25-23.
In set three High Point put together two early sequences of 3-0 runs to go up 8-4. The Panthers turned up the heat midway through the set to go on a seven point run and lead 18-9. The run was led by Bukovcan with a kill and two blocks as she tag teamed at the net with Catojo to get big time double blocks.
Even with the large separation, High Point kept the pressure on stringing together another run of five points with back-to-back kills from Keric. A service error by the Bulldogs ended the set as HPU won 25-14.
UP NEXT: High Point will participate in a non-conference mid-week matchup at the College of Charleston on October 6 at 6:00 p.m. in Charleston, South Carolina.
#GoHPU
