HPU Volleyball’s Comeback Falls Short At Liberty, 3-1

• Junior Megan Kennedy led the way for the Panthers with her first double-double in Big South play (12 kills and 13 digs).
• Freshman Abby Broadstreet just missed matching her career high with 11 kills on the night.
• The loss snaps an 8-match winning streak for HPU, which plays at Radford on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The High Point University volleyball team fell in four sets at Liberty in Lynchburg, Va. on Friday night despite a double-double from junior Megan Kennedy.

Kennedy (12 kills and 13 digs) led the Panthers (19-8, 9-2) as the Flames (12-11, 8-3) snapped the Purple & White’s 8-match winning streak. Liberty took the first two sets (25-19 and 25-23) before High Point responded with a win in the third (25-20), but the comeback fell short with a 25-20 loss in the fourth frame.

“What an emotional night for Liberty’s seniors that have contributed the last 2-to-4 years and it was a great environment,” head coach Jason Oliver said. “Our team needs to understand that when we come out with the right mentality we can compete with anyone in the country. Tonight we only had that in spurts. We have to play a great team tomorrow in Radford and we need to play with more consistency.”

Offensively, freshman Abby Broadstreet just missed equaling her career high by racking up 11 kills. Meanwhile, sophomore Camryn Freiberg gave HPU three attackers with at least 10 kills – including five in the third set. In the middle, freshman Molly Livingston tallied nine kills, two blocks and an ace in the match.

On the defensive side of the net, seniors Annemarie Chin (18 digs) and Wavie Chin (10 digs) combined for 28 of the Purple & White’s 65 digs. From her setter spot, senior Gabi Mirand dished out 40 assists and collected nine digs.

The Flames earned a .200 to .186 advantage in hitting percentage while HPU posted a 53-48 edge in kills and a +4 margin (65-61) in digs.

HPU jumped out to a 6-3 lead by holding Liberty to a -.100 hitting percentage in the early going of the opening set. However, the Flames fought back with a 7-3 run to take a 10-9 edge. From there, the two squads traded points until the home team took an 18-16 advantage. Livingston, then, posted a kill as HPU knotted the score at 18-all before the Flames closed the set on a 7-1 run (25-19).

Freiberg got the second set started off right for HPU with a kill and two aces to spark her team to a 6-2 lead. Then, two kills apiece from Barnes, Livingston and Kennedy kept Liberty at bay as the lead grew to 18-13. But six straight points from the Flames gave them a 19-18 edge. The Panthers evened the score on two occasions but couldn’t complete the comeback as Liberty took the frame 25-23.

Once again, Freiberg and the Panthers came out of the gate hot to take a 5-1 lead in the third set. The Purple & White’s lead continued to grow as three kills from Kennedy made it 13-7. As they did in the second, Liberty fought back and pulled within one (19-18). However, a block by freshman Katie Tylman and redshirt-junior Savannah Angel turned the tide back in HPU’s favor and sparked a 6-2 run to win the set (25-20).

In the fourth set, the Flames earned a 6-2 lead early and held at least a 2-point lead throughout en route to a 25-18 victory. In the frame, Liberty earned a .273 to .108 advantage in attack percentage.

The Panthers bring their road slate to an end on Saturday in the Dedmon Center on the campus of Radford University at 4:00 p.m.