PITTSBURGH, Pa. – High Point University volleyball capped its weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a victory over Jacksonville University, 3-1. Élodie Lalonde and
Gabby Hill led the match with 14 and 13 kills respectively, guiding the Panthers to a team .311 hitting percentage.
"We started great today and had control of the match, up 2-0," Head Coach
Ryan Meek state. "Jacksonville made a great run in the third set and I thought we backed down from the challenge in that set. A lot of credit to our team for stepping up and taking control of the fourth set and finishing the weekend with a win. I'm very excited about the potential of this team when they compete together."
Site: Victory Heights Arena & Sports Performance Center
Score: High Point 3, Jacksonville 1
Record: High Point (4-4), Jacksonville (4-5)
The Panthers were rolling in sets one and two.
Aisha Keric started off hot on the right side with two kills to contribute to HPU's 4-0 start. High Point's serve set the Panthers up for success by putting Jacksonville out of system.
Keric continued to fire over shots on the right side registering her third kill to give HPU a 12-10 lead. Lalonde punched over big hits on the outside and after having a kill reversed from going out of bounds, she nailed one into the open gap on the following play to keep the Panthers in the lead 14-13.
Maya Bukovcan and
Remy Catojo made a strong duo on the right-side block, stuffing shots back over the net to lead 17-14 and force a Dolphins timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Hill rocked over a shot to extend the Panthers lead and continue their run going on an 8-0 domination. Jacksonville experienced multiple errors as
Havani Embry served over an ace and Bukovcan and Catojo picked up a block. HPU went on to win 25-16 in set one.
It was the Catojo show to start the second set as she landed three setter dumps in the first seven points for HPU to lead 7-5. She followed up with a service ace that landed right between Jacksonville's back line to go up 10-6.
Addison Freeland capitalized on an over pass from the Dolphins and tipped the ball into an open gap, giving High Point a five point lead,12-7. HPU's offense continued to work together and led 15-10 at the media timeout. When Hill entered back into the front line, she put down three kills to help the Panthers take a 21-14 advantage.
After leading 24-16 over the Dolphins, Jacksonville made a comeback attempt scoring four straight points. Lalonde ended the run with a powerful outside kill to win 25-20.
Set three experienced a close back and forth action as the set tied 10 times. Catojo set up Freeland in the middle and Freeland read the defense and tipped the ball to the middle to tie the set at nine all. An Embry service ace tied the set at 13 all before Jacksonville took the lead and held onto the lead for the remainder of the set, winning 25-16 to force a fourth set.
Regrouping and opening the fourth set, High Point went up 7-2 early. A couple of High Point mistakes allowed the Dolphins to close the gap to a two-point game with HPU still leading 9-7.
Jacksonville took a 12-11 lead during a 4-1 run as the Panthers continued to trail through a three point exchange. Keric joined back in on the action and sparked a four point run for the Panthers to take back the lead and go up 18-15.
From there, High Point's front row took control and dominated the attack with five straight kills. Bukovcan led with three kills during the 5-0 run to give HPU a 23-16 lead. Catojo and Bukovcan finished out the match securing the final two points off kills to win 25-18.
High Point out hit Jacksonville registering 56 kills to the Dolphin's 41. The Panthers best hitting came in sets two and four recording 17 kills and hitting over .330 as a team. Catojo dished out a season-high 40 assists while leading the team with 14 digs and adding seven kills.
UP NEXT: High Point will play its first home game of the season inside the Millis Center on Thursday, September 17 at 6:00 p.m. against Wofford College.
#GoHPU
