Box Score

ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop volleyball team could not finish the deal as it dropped its Big South Conference opener to the High Point Panthers in five sets (30-28, 21-25, 16-25, 25-20, 15-11). This was Winthrop's fourth match in the last ten to finish in five sets. 

The loss drops the Eagles to 3-10 on the season and 0-1 in the conference.

Winthrop finished the match with 57 kills, 97 digs and a .155 hitting percentage.

Leading the way for the Eagles was senior middle hitter Sara Felts as she finished with 18 kills and was the focus of Winthrop's offense.

“Sara played well tonight,” head coach Sally Polhamus said. “All of our middle hitters played well.”

Junior middle hitter Becca Toor ended the night with 10 kills of her own. Senior setter Kelsey Hall led the team with a career-high 23 digs. Three more Eagles found themselves with double-digits in the dig category with senior outside hitter Kaley Viola finishing with 21, senior libeiro Kelsey Harrison with 19 and senior outside hitter Kellie Sellers ended the night with 18. Hall also led in assists with 46.

The first set saw both teams match up well as both fought hard to the 25-25 mark. Winthrop then fended off three set points, but could not fight off the last attack as the Panthers took the first set 30-28. Viola finished the set with 11 digs.

In the second set, the Eagles saw the early advantage, but High Point inched its way back into the game, bringing the set to a tie at 20-20. Winthrop only gave up one more point for the rest of the set as it evened up the match at 1-1 with a 25-21 set win.

The third set started off well for the Panthers, but the Eagles made a comeback of their own and took a commanding 17-13 lead. From that point, Winthrop went on an 8-3 run to close of the set. The Eagles closed out the set with an ace from Hall, and won the set 25-16.

The fourth set went High Point's way as it never trailed throughout the set. The .294 hitting percentage the Panthers posted was too much for Winthrop, taking the fourth set 25-20.

“We forced too much in the fourth set,” Polhamus said. “We had too many free balls and errors in the set and a good High Point team took advantage of that.”

In the deciding set, the teams traded points all the way to the 11-11 mark. Two straight kills by High Point's Courtney Johnk and Audie Gonzalez gave it a late advantage. The Eagles could not fight back as an attacking error was followed by a kill from Panthers outside hitter Megan Smith gave High Point a 15-11 set win and the match.

“Everyone brings their best against Winthrop,” Polhamus said. “We have to be prepared for that.”

The Eagles will be back in action Saturday, Sept. 25 as they take on the Radford Highlanders at 2 p.m., as High Point travels to Charleston Southern on Saturday. Game time for the Panthers is set for 4 p.m.