Murray State Edges HPU Volleyball On Saturday

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University volleyball team dropped a three-set match to Murray State on Saturday at the Millis Center. Junior Chelsea Davis continued her strong play with a match-high 17 kills.

“Both teams played with a lot of heart and will,” said head coach Jason Oliver. “When it came time to execute down the stretch Murray State executed the little details better. I am happy with our system and I see our team making strides every day.”

Davis led all attackers with 17 kills while adding eight digs and four blocks. Sophomore Annemarie Chin tallied a match-high 26 digs and senior Maddie Simpson dished out 28 assists.

Alyssa Lelm and Scottie Ingram each tallied double-digit kills for the Racers who improve to 9-4 on the season. HPU moves to 5-8.

Murray State outlasted HPU in a close first set, 25-24. Ingram put down a kill to tie the frame 22-22 and force an HPU timeout. Lelm had back-to-back kills for the Racers to give them a two-point advantage and bring up set point. HPU was able to side out on a kill by Davis and tie the match with a kill by junior Kristin Heldt. With the score knotted 24-24, Davis served the ball in to the net to again give MSU set point. Sam Bedard and Miranda Fowler combined for a block to win the set, 26-24 for the Racers. Davis had nine kills in the first set.

Each team posted a .200 attack percentage in another close set. Murray State squeaked out another win, 25-22, to take a 2-0 advantage in the match. The Panthers trailed 21-18 late in the frame when Heldt put down back-to-back kills to get HPU within one. Lelm sided out the Racers but Heldt went back on the attack, getting HPU within one, 23-22 with her fifth kill of the set. Murray State scored the final two points of the set to hold on for the 25-22 win.

Redshirt-freshman Savannah Angel had a kill to tie the third set 19-19 but the Racers answered with a six-point run to win the frame 25-19. The Panthers had three attack errors in the final six points.

Heldt finished the match with seven kills and seven digs and junior Katie Vincent added five kills and seven blocks.

High Point will wrap up the HPU Classic with a 7 p.m. match against Davidson. The Wildcats are 1-1 on the weekend with a loss to Murray State and a win over North Carolina A&T.