HPU Volleyball Tops Presbyterian College In Five Sets

CLINTON, S.C. — The High Point University volleyball team won the final two sets en route to a 3-2 win over Presbyterian College on Saturday night in Clinton, S.C. Sophomore Chelsea Davis led High Point with 17 kills and 12 digs.

“After last night’s loss to Winthrop, it was important to come out with the right mentality and I think we did that tonight,” said HPU head coach Jason Oliver. “Last night we had a very defeated mentality; tonight we were very determined. That was the difference.

“We had a balanced attack with Chelsea Davis with 17 kills and three others with at least 11. Michelle Chakirelis hit .500 too, she probably could have been out there more. We needed to come out with the right mentality and perform tonight because Presbyterian is a really good team and they were playing at home.”

HPU won the first set, 25-19, before Presbyterian came back with wins of 25-17 and 25-23. High Point won the final two sets, 25-14 and 15-12. High Point improved to 15-8 on the season and 4-3 in Big South play. Presbyterian fell to 8-14 overall and 5-2 in league play.

Behind Davis, senior Courtney Johnk had 15 kills and a pair of aces. Redshirt-sophomore Maddie Simpson had 52 assists and three aces, including two at a key point midway through the fourth set.

Presley Mabrey had a team-high 14 kills while Andrea Barman had 11 kills and hit .375 for Presbyterian. Mabrey also posted 13 digs and had a pair of aces. Libero Mary Trimpe had a match-high 22 digs.

Down 2-1 in the match, High Point never trailed in the fourth set. HPU jumped out to leads of 8-1 and 15-6 before getting its first double-digit lead on a block assist by Jamie McDonald and Johnk that made it 18-8. The Panthers extended their lead to 22-8 before taking the set 25-14.

In the deciding set, Presbyterian got out to a 6-2 lead before an 8-1 run gave the Panthers the lead for good. Down 7-4, the Panthers scored six times in a row capped by an attack error by Presbyterian’s Mabrey. The Blue Hose pulled back within a point (11-10) but HPU stayed ahead and sealed the win on a kill by Davis.

High Point took a 3-2 lead in the first set and led the rest of the way. A kill by Jamie McDonald followed by a block and an ace from Johnk put the Panthers up 6-2. The closest the Blue Hose would get was within two (19-17) on a Mabrey kill, but High Point scored the next three points en route to a 25-19 win.

High Point took an 8-4 lead early in the second set before Presbyterian went on a 10-point run en route to a 25-17 win. The closest HPU would get was 16-13. Barman posted four kills in the set for Presbyterian.

The third set was tight, with Presbyterian getting out to leads of 9-4 and 12-7 before a 7-1 High Point run gave the Panthers the lead. A Johnk ace made it 13-12 before consecutive block assists by Davis and McDonald gave the Panthers a 14-13 lead. The score stayed within two the rest of the way as Presbyterian pulled out a 25-23 result.

McDonald had three solo blocks and five block assists to go along with 11 kills in the match for HPU. Sophomore Kristin Heldt posted 12 kills and freshman Annemarie Chin had a team-high 17 digs.

High Point returns to the Millis Center for five-straight home matches in the next three weeks. The Panthers host Campbell next Wednesday at 7 p.m. in their only match of the week.