Site: High Point, N.C.
Score: High Point 3, North Carolina A&T 0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-15)
Records: HPU 21-6 (13-1 Big South), Radford 17-9 (9-5 Big South)
Next HPU Event: Friday, November 12, 2021 — vs. UNC-Asheville (High Point, N.C.), 7:00 PM
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University volleyball team picked up its 21st win of the season and maintained their solo lead in 1st place of the Big South standings with a 3-0 sweep of Triad rival North Carolina A&T. The Panthers are a game up on Campbell in the race for the regular-season Big South conference titles and have two home games remaining. Dylan Maberry again led the Panthers on the day with 16 kills, to go along with an incredibly impressive .455 hitting percentage. Gabrielle Idlebird also had double-digit kills with 10, while she hit .471 on the day. Freshman libero Jenny Wessling led the Panthers with 15 digs on the day.
Ryan Meek: I thought it was our best match since non-con. I thought we served great, I thought we blocked well, maybe we didn’t get a lot of stuff blocked but we affected them at the net well. I thought we played great defense which are things we have had go off and on this season. Our offense is always there we always hit pretty well but our serving, blocking, and defense tends to come and go but I thought it was there all match tonight. I was happy as we round up the end of the season that we had our best effort.
Panther Particulars
The Panthers jumped out to a quick start with an early 6-2 lead in the first set. Maberry had two kills during this run, while Idlebird had one of her own. The Aggies rallied to even the score at 13-13, however, the Panthers went on a 12-2 run to end the set at 25-15 HPU. The Panthers had three kills from Maberry, three from Maggie Salley, and two from Sopheea Mink during this run.
In the second set, the Aggies jumped out to an early 8-4 lead, however, the Panthers would slowly claw back into the set. Syndey Palazzolo had a kill and an Aggie attack error cut the lead to two. The Aggies and Panthers would battle back and forth with neither team able to have a run of more than two points until the Panthers found themselves down 12-9. The Panthers scored three consecutive points to tie the game at 12, one of which was on a kill from Maberry. The Panthers took their first lead of the second set at 14-13. The teams continued to battle until the Panthers were finally able to go on a 6-2 run to take a 20-17 lead. Palazzolo had three kills during this run. A&T could not cut the lead to under two points the remainder of the set and the Panthers held on to win 25-22, with the final point another kill from Palazzolo.
The third and final set was a back and forth affair with the teams going back and forth until they were tied at 10-10. The Panthers then took charge and went on a 5-1 run to take a 15-11 lead. Maberry took over with all five kills for the Panthers during this run and shifted the momentum. A&T was able to cut the lead to 17-14, but the Panthers went on a 7-2 clinching run to win the third set 25-16. Idlebird had two kills during this run and it was fitting that the deciding kill was from Maberry.
The Panthers played tremendous defense on the day as they held the Aggies to a .133 hitting percentage on the evening. The Panthers also had 10 blocks on the day, compared to only 6 for the Aggies.
Up Next
High Point continues its quest to the Big South regular-season championship with its final two regular-season contests of the season. The first will take place on Saturday, November 12th when the Panthers host UNC-Asheville. The first serve is set for 7 pm in High Point.