HPU Volleyball Suffers Road Loss at Liberty on Saturday

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The High Point University volleyball team suffered a 3-0 loss at Liberty on Saturday at the Vines Center. Senior Courtney Johnk led the team with 13 kills.

Liberty held HPU off in the first set for a 25-22 win and went on to sweep the match with 25-14, 25-17 wins in the second and third sets. With the loss the Panthers drop to 14-7 (3-2 Big South) while Liberty moves to 14-6 (4-1 Big South).

“Liberty played a great match,” said head coach Jason Oliver. “We didn’t have a response today. It was a tough turnaround from last night to today’s 1 p.m. match but the bottom line is we control our energy and focus and today we didn’t do a very good job. We will learn from it for next weeken’s road trip to Winthrop and Presbyterian College.”

Sophomore Kristin Heldt finished the game with eight kills and three block assists. Freshman Annemarie Chin had a match-high 13 digs.

Liberty broke an 11-11 tie and went on a 4-1 run to take a 16-12 lead halfway through the first set. High Point cut the lead to one late in the frame but couldn’t take the lead. Johnk put down a kill to make it a 22-23 Liberty lead. The Flames scored the final two points on kills by Loren Thomas to win the first set.

High Point fell behind early in set two, 13-6 but battled back to come within two points, 15-13 on a kill by Chelsea Blanford. Liberty closed out the frame on a 10-1 run to win the second set 25-15.

The Panthers kept it close in the third set but couldn’t hold off the Flames who the frame, 25-17. Heldt had five kills in the final set to bring her total for the game to eight.

High Point will travel to Rock Hill, S.C. on Friday for a 7 p.m. match at Winthrop.