High Point 3, Elon 1
HIGH POINT, N.C. ? The High Point University volleyball team posted an impressive 3-1 (30-18, 30-25, 25-30, 30-23) victory over rival Elon to close out a three-match home stand on Wednesday night at the Millis Athletic Center.
The Panthers (11-9) used a balanced attack and solid defense to snap their three-match losing skid. The loss dropped the Phoenix to 4-14 overall on the season and marked their sixth defeat in their last seven matches.
Freshman outside hitter Ashley Mellott recorded a career-high 19 kills to lead a quartet of HPU attackers in double figures.. Sophomore Jamie Kaufman had 14 kills followed by 11 from freshman Lindsay Raus and 10 by senior Michelle Feiser. Kaufman added 12 digs to record her 12th double-double of the season while Feiser finished with 11 digs and 27 assists to notch her Big South leading eighth triple-double of the year.
Defensively, senior libero Jenelle Stouffer paced the Panthers with 22 digs marking her fifth 20+ dig performance of the season.. Her match total also pushed her to an even 1,000 digs for her HPU career. Senior Tara Mahoney had five blocks to lead the High Point frontline.
Elon’s Britany Westphal finished with 17 kills to lead the Phoenix on offense with Emily Downing’s 10 digs topping the EU defensive performance.
For the match, High Point held the advantage in every statistical category including a 64-46 edge in total kills and a .242 to .090 advantage in hitting percentage. The Panthers also out-dug (67-49) and out-blocked (9-5) the Phoenix.
High Point next hits the court on Friday night at Big South foe Coastal Carolina, marking the first of six consecutive road contests for the Panthers over the next two weeks. Other stops on the trip include Charleston Southern (Oct. 15), Savannah State (Oct. 17), UNC Asheville (Oct. 21), Birmingham-Southern (Oct. 23) and East Tennessee State (Oct. 26).