LYNCHBURG, Va. – The volleyball season is officially underway as the High Point University Panthers opened their season this past weekend participating in the Penn State Invitational in University Park, Pennsylvania. HPU took one of three matches with a victory over the UConn Huskies 3-2 on Friday in the opening match. The Panthers will hit the road again as they travel to Lynchburg, Virginia to participate in the Liberty Mountain Madness Tournament for two matches, hosted by Liberty University. 
  
The Matchups 
The Panthers will open the tournament against Lamar University for the second all-time matchup between the two programs. Lamar finished the 2025 campaign with a 17-15 overall record and 10-6 in the Southland. The 17 wins were the most in the programs history since 2008 as well as their first winning conference record since 2011. The Cardinals finished fifth out of 12 teams in the pre-season polls. The Cardinals are returning eight lettermen including six upperclassmen while also adding ten newcomers, four of which from the transfer portal. Lamar is led by second year Head Coach Ariel Apolinario (32-22) who is looking to lead the Cardinals to his third straight winning season as head coach. 
  
High Point will close out the tournament where they take on the Liberty Flames for the first meeting since 2023. The two programs will face off against each other for the 48th time. The Flames finished their 2025 season with a 20-10 overall record and an 8-8 record in Conference USA play. The Flames were eliminated in first round of CUSA Tournament last year to FIU. The Flames were picked to finish 2nd in the pre-season polls while also getting one first-place vote. Additionally senior outside hitter, Jenna Otts, junior outside hitter Carly O'Brien, and junior right-side hitter Paige Overcash were all named to the CUSA pre-season all-conference second team. Liberty is led by Head Coach Jeremey White (35-29) who is entering his third year at helm and is looking to lead his team to back-to-back winning seasons. 
  
Weekend Schedule 

Volleyball– Liberty Mountain Madness vs Lamar 
Saturday, September 5 | 2 p.m. | Lynchburg, Va. | Liberty Arena 
Livestats | *This broadcast will not be streamed 
 
Records: High Point 1-2, Lamar 0-3 
Last Time Meeting: September 4, 2004 | Result: Lamar won 3-0 
All-time Record: Lamar leads 0-1 
  
Volleyball – Liberty Mountain Madness vs Liberty 
Sunday, September 6 | 2 p.m. | Lynchburg, Va. | Liberty Arena 
Livestats | *This broadcast will not be streamed 
 
Records: High Point 1-2, Liberty 2-1 
Last Time Meeting: August 31, 2023 | Result: Liberty won 2-3 
All-time Record: Liberty leads 29-18 
  
Weekend Recap: 
The Panthers went 1-2 over the weekend beating the UConn Huskies in five sets in their first match but would go on to lose to the Hofstra Pride in four sets the following day. HPU had a hard-fought match against the #10 Penn State Nittany Lions who won the National Championship just two years ago. It was the first time in program history High Point took a power four opponent to five sets.  

Élodie Lalonde and Maya Bukovcan had a phenomenal weekend for the Panthers. Lalonde led the way with 34 kills and Bukovcan with 31 kills. The dynamic duo will look for the same success as the team travels to Lynchburg, Virginia to take on Lamar University and Liberty University as they part take in the Liberty Mountain Madness Tournament this upcoming weekend.  

Notable player & team notes:

Big South Weekly Awards (8/31): 
The Big South Conference announced the first week of volleyball Player of the Week awards following the opening weekend of the 2026 season. High Point University was awarded two awards as Maya Bukovcan was named the Player of the Week and Remy Catojo was named Setter of the Week. 

Pre-Season Polls:  
The Big South Conference announced the 2026 Preseason Women's Volleyball All-Conference Awards and Preseason Poll on Wednesday afternoon. The High Point University volleyball team was unanimously voted the preseason favorite by the Big South head coaches after winning the 2025 Big South Tournament, making it the Panthers 10th consecutive season being voted No. 1. 

Along with being voted the preseason favorite, four HPU student-athletes were named to the All-Conference selection including, Élodie Lalonde, Maya Bukovcan, Remy Catojo, and Addison Freeland. Lalonde was named the Big South Preseason Player of the Year and Remy Catojo was voted the Big South Preseason Co-Setter of the Year along with USC Upstate's Kamyla Vega David. 

Last Season:  
The Panthers won the programs 6th conference title and third straight conference title earning a bid in the NCAA Tournament. High Point would go on to lose to Kansas in three sets in their only match in the tournament.