Chins Post Huge Night As HPU Volleyball Panthers Best Loyola 3-1

• Senior Annemarie Chin posted 32 digs in the match as High Point earned a 71-62 advantage in digs.
• Junior Megan Kennedy (17 kills, 14 digs) and sophomore Haley Barnes (17 kills, 10 digs) posted double-doubles in the win.
• Senior Wavie Chin racked up five digs in the match to become the 13th Panther in the program’s Division-I era to eclipse 1,000 career digs.
• The Panthers will wrap up the HPU Classic against Georgia State on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. after South Carolina State and Loyola (Md.) play at 1:00 p.m.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University volleyball team received an incredible performance from senior Annemarie Chin and earned a 3-1 win over Loyola in the Millis Center on Friday evening.

“We made an adjustment to put her in a better spot to defend their attackers,” head coach Jason Oliver said. “When we made that adjustment, it made it harder for them to get kills and you can see that in her dig totals. She was really scrambling around and making plays tonight.”

Chin posted 32 digs to tie her career high for a 4-set match. The performance was the most digs in a 4-set match since senior Wavie Chin racked up 32 against Campbell last season.

Wavie Chin had a milestone match of her own by registering five digs to become the 13th player in HPU’s Division-I era to reach 1,000 career digs.

Junior Megan Kennedy led the Purple & White’s offense for the first three sets and finished with a double-double (17 kills, 14 digs). But in the fourth, it was sophomore Haley Barnes who sparked the comeback. The Neenah, Wis. native tallied nine kills in the final set and wrapped up the night with 17 kills and 10 digs.

“We had Megan and Haley really step up when they needed to,” Oliver said. “Our team’s backbone really showed up today when we were pushed and we know it’s going to continue to show up throughout the year when we need it.”

Freshman Jordan Hefner (9 kills) and redshirt-junior Savannah Angel (6 blocks) combined to anchor the middle of the Panthers’ defense. Overall, HPU (4-2) finished the night with 71 digs, which bested Loyola’s total by nine.

At setter, sophomore Carly Jimenez dished out a career-high 47 assists as the Panthers hit .209 and posted 59 kills on the night.

The Panthers led the first set 5-3, but the Greyhounds (1-5) responded with a 5-0 run to take the lead, which they wouldn’t relinquish as they took the first frame 25-21. Loyola hit .223 in the set while HPU only managed a .125 attack percentage due to seven costly attack errors.

The second frame was a different story for the offense as HPU compiled 13 kills – with seven from Kennedy – to post a 25-16 win. The Purple & White held the visitors to a -.057 hitting percentage and forced 10 attack errors to cruise for the win in the set.

HPU jumped out to a 7-4 advantage in the third set only to see the Greyhounds bounce back and take a 3-point lead of their own (14-11). However, HPU responded with a 13-5 run and built a 24-19 edge behind Barnes and Kennedy. Loyola scored two straight points to make it 24-21, but Barnes put it away to set herself up for a huge fourth set.

In the final set of the night, neither team could build a lead bigger than three as Barnes continued to pile on kills and Annemarie Chin got to seemingly every Loyola attack – 14 digs in the set. Despite those great efforts from Chin and Barnes, the visitors took a 24-22 lead. But Angel picked up her fifth kill to cut the deficit to one before an attack error by Loyola knotted the score (24-24). Then it was all Barnes. The sophomore crushed back-to-back kills to end the set (26-24) and give the Panthers the win.

HPU will be back in the Millis Center on Saturday to close out the HPU Classic sponsored by the Hampton Inn against Georgia State at 4:00 p.m. with an eye on finishing the weekend 3-0.