HPU Volleyball Comes From Two-Down To Beat Wake Forest

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University volleyball team came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Wake Forest, 3-2, on Tuesday night at the Millis Center. HPU won the third set, 15-13, on a block by Maddie Simpson and Jamie McDonald to finish off the victory.

The Demon Deacons took the first two sets but the Panthers pulled off the come-from-behind win with help from a rowdy Millis Center crowd. The Panthers are 3-1 in the first week of the 2012 season.

Wake Forest took a 13-12 lead in the fifth set and forced a High Point timeout. Sophomore Kristin Heldt put down her 14th kill of the match to tie the set and McDonald followed with a kill to bring up match point. Kylie Hargreaves went up for the attack for WFU and Simpson and McDonald blocked her to win the match.

“This was an incredible win,” said head coach Jason Oliver. “The team bonded together and used energy from an amazing crowd to pull out this win. Courtney Johnk continues to be rock solid for us this season and Chelsea Davis and Kristin Heldt showed a lot of maturity. I can’t say enough about how thankful I am to all the fans who showed up tonight. It says a lot about what a supportive community we have at HPU.”

Johnk hit .306 with 18 kills in the win. Davis had a double-double with 13 kills and 17 digs while she added a career-high six blocks. Heldt pitched in 14 kills and three aces.

Wake Forest took an early lead in the first set and was able to hold off every run made by the Panthers. The Deacs led 5-1 early in but HPU cut the lead to one point, 7-8, on a kill by Heldt. Wake Forest worked the lead back to seven points at 16-9 and held on the rest of the way to win the set 25-16. The Demon Deacons outhit HPU .464 to .133 in the frame.

High Point rallied to tie the second set 23-23 on a kill by Johnk. Heldt had started the rally with two aces to cut Wake’s lead to 20-22. After Johnk tied the set with her seventh kill of the match, Wake Forest got kills from Kristin Grissom and Ashlee Rusk to pull out the 25-23 win. Davis had six kills in the set.

HPU took its first lead of the night in the third set. Johnk and McDonald combined for a block to tie the set 7-7. Johnk followed with a kill and Heldt aced the Deacons to put HPU on top 9-7. Wake Forest took a brief lead, 16-15, but Johnk answered with a kill and tied the set. McDonald aced the Demon Deacons to give HPU the final lead of the set and HPU went on to win 25-20. The Panthers had four aces in the win, one each by Heldt, Johnk, Davis and McDonald.

Simpson served three straight aces to give HPU a 23-16 lead in the fourth set. Wake Forest answered with a three-point run to cut the lead to 23-19. Heather Kraft served the ball in to the net for the Deacs and McDonald and Davis blocked Rusk to win the set for HPU 25-19.

Simpson finished the match with 47 assists, 14 digs and three blocks. McDonald had a career-high eight blocks and Molly Barlow added 16 digs.

High Point goes back on the road this weekend with three games at the War Eagle Invitational hosted by Auburn. HPU will face Jacksonville State and Auburn on Friday and Georgia Southern on Saturday.