HPU Volleyball Panthers Win 15th Straight in Sweep of Blue Hose

• The Purple & White hit .319 while holding the Blue Hose to a -.009 attack percentage en route to a sweep.
• The senior class of Haley Barnes, Carly Jimenez and Amy Pilat have been a part of 41 Big South wins, the most by a class in HPU history passing the 2010 group.
• High Point’s 15 straight wins is the longest streak in the program’s Division I era and is tied with Fairfield for the fourth-longest active streak in the nation.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University volleyball used an efficient attack hitting .319 to earn a 3-0 sweep of Presbyterian on Saturday in the Millis Center.

The Panthers (20-6, 13-0) earned its 20th win for the third straight year – the longest streak in the program’s Division I era – while moving to 13-0 in the Big South for the first time. HPU won the first set 25-12 and then held the Blue Hose (5-21, 2-10) to just eight points in the second before closing the victory with a 25-18 win.

The victory clinches a bye for HPU in the Big South Tournament as a top-two seed. Meanwhile, it gives the senior class of Barnes, Jimenez and Amy Pilat 41 career Big South wins, the most in HPU history.

“To win in the conference tournament and in the NCAA Tournament, you have to string together two good matches in a weekend and that was our goal this weekend,” head coach Tom Mendoza said. “I thought we played a good match yesterday and executed again today. Overall, it was a very good match that allowed us to get a lot of people involved. I like where our team is now as we get close to the stretch run. Next weekend we have two really important home matches and we’ll get another good week of practice in and play two more good matches then.”

Junior Molly Livingston led the balanced attack with nine kills while adding four blocks. Similarly, junior Jordan Hefner added five kills and four blocks on the afternoon.

From their setter spot, sophomore Jenna Smith (21 assists and eight digs) and senior Carly Jimenez (12 assists and seven digs) combined for 33 assists and 15 digs. Meanwhile, freshman Abby Bottomley led the team with nine digs as High Point posted a 48-40 margin in digs.

Adding to the offensive depth, senior Haley Barnes notched seven kills while freshman Katie Doering collected seven as well. Junior Abby Broadstreet posted five kills as junior Adeline Ellis (three kills) and redshirt-sophomore Olivia Barr (two kills) rounded out the offense.

The Purple & White registered 38 kills and just nine errors to hit .319 while PC notched 24 kills and 25 errors (-.009). Leading to those errors, HPU earned a 9-3 edge in blocks. Likewise, the home team served up five aces while allowing zero for the Blue Hose.

Barnes heated up early pounding down five kills in the first set as HPU outhit its visitors .387 to .026 in the frame. Despite the attack percentage disparity, the score was 13-10 midway through the set before the Panthers closed the set on a 12-2 run to win 25-12.

In the second, six different Panthers tallied kills as the team hit .423 while forcing 12 PC attack errors to cruise to a 25-8 victory. The eight points are the fewest allowed by High Point in a set this season.

Presbyterian came out of the intermission with an 8-4 run to build a four-point edge. However, the Panthers slowly battled back to take the lead on an ace by Smith, 12-11. From there, HPU closed out the match with a 25-18 triumph

The Purple & White wrap up their home slate next weekend when they host Charleston Southern and Winthrop. The contest against the Eagles on Saturday will be the program’s Senior Night with first serve at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4.