October 9, 2007

HIGH POINT, N.C.—Freshman Kelly Williams (Laurel, Md.) provided eight kills, four digs, and two services aces for visiting St. Andrews Presbyterian College, but NCAA Division I High Point University extended their current win streak to five matches on Tuesday night with a 3-0 (30-15, 30-19, 30-26) victory in the Millis Athletic Center.

The win streak for the Panthers (14-6) equals the second longest in the program's nine-year D-I Era and is just one victory shy of equaling the program best of six accomplished during the 2005 season. By defeating St. Andrews (9-16), located in Laurinburg, N.C., High Point also improved to 9-0 this year against in-state opponents.

“The opportunity to play a DI opponent is great for us,” said third year SAPC head coach Dan Kreiger.  “It allows our team to see a higher level of play. The fact that we were able to score a few points shows our team that we can play a very solid level of volleyball. There is nothing but positives to be taken from this experience. We would like to thank Coach Esposito and High Point University for the opportunity to compete against their volleyball program.”

High Point was led by senior Whitney Kaltenegger and her 16 kills, 15 digs double-double. Kaltenegger tallied a career best four kills and also finished the match with a team-best three blocks. Sophomore Megan Kaminskas hit .318 for the contest and finished with eight kills with fellow sophomore Lyndsay Rowley also chipping in eight kills to go along with her team-best 17 digs. Sophomore Tara Dyer also reached double digit digs finishing with a season high 16.

SAPC was led on offense by eight kills from Williams while senior libero Erin Haugen (Ft. Mill, S.C.) tallied 16 digs to top a trio of double-figure Knights defenders. Senior Tara Lemieux (Panama City, Fla.) and freshman Katie Lovett (Concord, N.C.) had 15 and 13 digs, respectively. Sophomore Jaime Hayes (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) added 21 assists while senior Lindsey Stansbury (Morgan City, La.) chipped in with eight digs and seven kills.

"This was a great match for our team," said HPU head coach Chad Esposito, a 1991 graduate of St. Andrews.

High Point blazed out of the gates in the opening frame taking a quick 6-1 lead as Rowley tallied five straight points from the service line. HPU continued to build on its advantage earning a double-digit lead at 22-12 en route to the comfortable 15-point final margin. HPU led 5-1 early in game two as this time Dyer sparked a four-point surge from the service line. St. Andrews fought its way back pulling to within one at 14-13, before three straight points pushed HPU back ahead. A few rotations later, Rowley strung together another run of five service points including back-to-back aces to give the Panthers the momentum needed to win the second game.

The Knights turned the tables on HPU in the third game opening up a 9-4 lead of their own. Lott keyed the next Panther surge tallying six service points to move High Point in front 13-11. SAPC kept the match close the remainder of the game staying within two points until HPU scored three of the final four points in winning by a 30-26 count.

St. Andrews returns to Conference Carolinas action on Saturday afternoon when they host Lees-McRae College at 2:00 p.m.

NOTE: Release partially contributed by High Point Sports Information.