High Point Volleyball Surges Past Charleston Southern, 3-1

• Senior Haley Barnes racked up 15 kills and 14 digs for her 47th career double-double, which is the second most in HPU’s Division I history.
• Junior Molly Livingston hit .591 while posting 13 kills, five digs and three blocks.
• Behind a career-high five aces from junior Abby Broadstreet, High Point earned an 11-3 edge in aces in the match.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – After splitting the first two sets, the High Point University volleyball’s offensive attack took off hitting .444 after the intermission en route to a 3-1 victory over Charleston Southern on Saturday in the Buc Dome.

The Panthers (9-6, 2-0) won the first set 25-20 despite hitting just .105 in the opening frame. However, the squad couldn’t overcome another slow offensive start as the Bucs (5-11, 0-2) claimed the second set 25-22.

After the intermission it was a different story though as HPU won the third set 25-10 and then it .515 in the fourth frame to pull away for a 25-19 triumph.

“We sided out well in the first set, but we squandered a lot of opportunities to score points in transition and get blocks,” head coach Tom Mendoza said. “We were relying too much on physicality and that caught up with us in the second set. We talked about it at halftime and I love the way we responded in the third and fourth sets. We committed four attack errors in the last two sets compared to 16 in the first two. We are capable of playing a more complete match and that’s something we will focus on for Tuesday.”

Senior Haley Barnes recorded the 47th double-double of her career with 15 kills and 14 digs. Only Audie Gonzalez – 60 – has more double-doubles in the Purple & White since the program moved to Division I competition.

“Today we got another great road win with contributions from everyone,” Barnes said. “Each game we’re looking to capitalize on opportunities and continue to grow and learn as a team. The Big South is improving as a conference and there are no easy wins. We are looking forward to another week of competition.”

From the middle, junior Molly Livingston hit .591 while tallying 13 kills while junior Jordan Hefner added eight kills and hit at a .500 clip.

Playing the Big South leader in digs, High Point earned a 57-52 margin in digs with freshman Abby Bottomley posting 14 to match Barnes. As Livingston led the HPU block with three, the Panthers held CSU to a .151 attack percentage.

The service line also proved to be a huge advantage for the Panthers with junior Abby Broadstreet registering a career-high five aces while Barnes added three and Bottomley notched two.

Setters Jenna Smith, a sophomore, and Carly Jimenez, a senior, combined for 43 assists and 12 digs in the match.

The home team took an 8-7 lead before Mendoza called an early timeout. Out of that break the Panthers posted a 14-6 spurt to build a 21-14 edge behind solid starts from Livingston and Hefner. Although the Bucs cut the deficit to four, before Barnes closed the set with a kill, 25-20.

In the second frame, the Bucs came out hot to take a 15-10 lead. The Panthers did cut the deficit to one, 19-18, but couldn’t get out of the early hole hitting just .111 in the set while falling 25-22.

Out of the intermission, the Purple & White took control by hitting .333 in the frame while limiting the Bucs to a -.042 clip. During the set, the Panthers posted four separate runs of at least four points in the 25-10 victory.

CSU answered at the beginning of the fourth set building an 11-9 edge. However, two kills and an ace from Barnes kickstarted a 10-4 run by the Panthers. From there, High Point closed out the match with a 25-19 victory.

The Panthers wrap up their three-game road trip to open Big South action at Campbell on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.