HIGH POINT, N.C. – On Friday night in the Millis Center, High Point University volleyball opened Big South Conference play with a home matchup against Radford University and dominated with a 3-0 sweep.
Élodie Lalonde led the night with 15 kills on a .652 hitting percentage while picking up five digs and a service ace.
Jasmine Oduro had her first collegiate start as a Panther and posted a career-high five kills with a .400 hitting percentage.
"We started out great tonight and then let our concentration lapse," Head Coach
Ryan Meek stated. "We have to keep the engine on when it's on and not turn it off when we feel like it. I thought Radford attacked us well in the third set and we didn't respond. We need to find more answers as the season keeps going."
Site: Millis Center
Score: High Point 3, Radford 0
Record: High Point (7-4,1-0), Radford (6-9, 0-1)
High Point cruised through set one, holding Radford to under 10 points in the opening set of conference play with a 25-9 win. HPU pushed on an early 4-0 lead with a service ace from
Sydney McKay. Allowing Radford to score only one point, the Panthers continued on a run to go up 8-1 with two kills from
Maya Bukovcan. The points kept coming for HPU as the team rolled on and extended to a 14-4 lead with a double block from Lalonde and Oduro.
With
Gabby Hill on the outside, she hammered down two kills along with an Oduro kill and a
Remy Catojo service ace, pressing High Point's lead to 19-5. The Panthers limited the Highlanders to four points before the end of the set as
Talia Lardner and Lalonde helped take set one with a kill from each.
Set two started off with a back-and-forth exchange of points. After tying the set at 10 all, Lalonde quickly put down two kills to take a 12-10 lead, HPU's largest lead of the set by the midway point.
Havani Embry was showing off her diving skills, maneuvering all over the court to keep the ball in play and help the Panthers secure the team's 14th point with a kill from Bukovcan. Two plays later Embry took off on a foot race towards the bleachers to keep a ball in play and give HPU a 16-13 lead and excite the crowd.
Radford kept it close at 20-17 but the Panthers found their groove and exploded on a five point swing to win the set 25-17.
In set three, HPU trailed early by one-point, 6-5, but continuing the Panthers game of runs, High Point strung together six straight points to go up 11-6. Hill powered over a strong outside kill straight to the floor while Oduro followed up with a shot in the middle to give HPU a 14-11 advantage.
After holding a slight lead over Radford, the Highlanders tied the set at 19 all. The set witnessed a back-and-forth battle in the final points and after tying the set at 23 all, HPU set up its outside pins for the kill.
Lalonde and Hill each collected two kills apiece which tied the set at 27 all. An attack error from Radford put HPU in match point position as Hill delivered with another kill on the outside to finish with nine total and lead High Point to a 29-27 win for the 3-0 sweep.
UP NEXT: High Point will travel to Spartanburg, S.C. to take on USC Upstate in the team's first Big South road contest on Friday, October 2 at 6:00 p.m.
#GoHPU
