CHARLESTON, S.C. – The High Point University volleyball team matched up with the College of Charleston in a non-conference mid-week action on Tuesday evening. After battling through five sets, the Panthers fell 3-2.
High Point was led by
Maya Bukovcan and Élodie Lalonde with 17 kills each to combined for 34 of the teams 65 kills. Bukovcan posted another over .500 hitting night with a .571 percentage on 28 attempts while adding seven blocks.
Gabby Hill reached double figures on the outside attack with 12 kills.
Remy Catojo dished out a season-high 47 assists while picking up eight kills and 10 digs.
"I feel like it's the same story repeated," Head Coach
Ryan Meek commented. "We come out and play well, lose focus and when challenged and it gets hard… we quit. We had chances tonight to escape with a win and every time we'd make an unforced error. Credit to College of Charleston for making things difficult and finding some things that worked as the match went on but from our side, this was a story of errors."
Site: T.D. Arena
Score: High Point 2, College of Charleston 3
Record: High Point (9-5,3-0 Big South), College of Charleston (15-2, 6-0 CAA)
The Panthers jumped out to an early lead in set one, going up 7-1 with a variety of kills across the front line. From there HPU held a steady six-point lead, going up 15-9 with a Bukovcan kill. Charleston closed the gap to within two at 19-17.
Aisha Keric sparked a 5-0 run as Bukovcan put down two kills and
Sydney McKay landed back-to-back aces, putting the Panthers at set point. Lalonde sealed the deal with a kill on the outside to take set one, 25-18.
After tying the set at 2-2 in the second set, HPU trailed through the remainder of the set before falling 25-19. The Panthers trailed by as much as six points at 17-11 before closing the gap to within three at 22-19, but it was not enough to take the set, evening the match to 1-1.
The High Point block was on fire in set three as the team tallied seven blocks in the set. Bukovcan and Hill were dominating at the net and picked up back-to-back double blocks to give HPU a 7-3 lead. The Cougars went on a 6-1 run shortly after and tied the set at nine all. Charleston took a 14-12 lead but the Panthers rallied and found momentum, stringing together seven straight points. Bukovcan, Hill and Catojo created the run as Bukovcan registered two kills and two block assists, Hill had a kill and two block assists and Catojo picked up two kills. The Panthers led 19-14.
Charleston kept the game interesting closing the gap to two points at 22-20 and then one point at 23-22. A Cougars service error followed by a Catojo kill gave HPU the 25-22 win to go up 2-1 in the match.
Set four witnessed a large amount of back-and-forth action as the set tied 19 times and changed leads seven times. Late in the set, HPU allowed Charleston to have a possible set point on three occasions before tying the set up. In extra points the Panthers tied the set at 24 all, 25 all and 26 all before the Cougars punched in two kills to take the set 27-25 to tie the match at 2-2 and force a fifth and deciding set.
High Point rallied in set five after trailing 7-4 early. The score tied at seven all. Charleston gained back the lead going up five at 13-8. Keric put down two big kills on the right side along with a middle kill from
Addison Freeland in an attempt to light a fire and make a run. After closing the gap to 13-11 and 14-12 with a Lalonde kill, the Cougars managed to pick up a block and earn match point.
The Panthers led the match on the attack and the block, dominating in both areas with 65 kills to Charleston's 50 and 16 to 13 blocks but failed to capitalize at the service line, registering 21 service errors. High Point will regroup and return to Big South Conference play on Friday.
UP NEXT: High Point will welcome Gardner-Webb to the Millis Center on Friday, October 9 for a 6:00 p.m. matchup.
#GoHPU
