HIGH POINT, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team (8-10, 1-2 Big South) took the court for its third Big South Conference match of the season on Saturday afternoon, suffering a 3-1 defeat at High Point (5-8, 2-1 Big South)

High Point was quick out of the gates on Saturday afternoon, winning each of the first two sets, 25-17 in the first and 25-19 in the second. Gardner-Webb quickly rallied back to take the third 25-21 and came within a handful of points of forcing a fifth, but ultimately were defeated 25-19 in the fourth to end the match.

In the first set, Gardner-Webb looked ready to go and jumped out to a 13-10 lead. Sophomore setter Olivia Lefebvre and redshirt junior outside hitter Serena Kohler punctuated the good Dawgs start by linking up for a couple kills in quick order to put GWU up three. High Point would counter with an 8-0 run immediately after though, pulling away for good and never letting the Runnin' Bulldogs get within four again for the set. The second set was largely the same way, with HPU using an 8-1 run to set the tone ahead of a 25-19 final.

Gardner-Webb rallied in a huge way in the third set. Behind 2-0 in the match and 18-12, the Runnin' Bulldogs scored 11 of the next 13 points, including eight in a row to jump in front 23-20. Junior middle Milla Lgo stepped up in a big way during the run with two kills and a block, while freshman Ivey Luas notched a service ace and Lefebvre added three more assists to her tally. Lugo crushed one last kill from Lefebvre to complete a 25-21, come from behind win.

The fourth set would be the set of runs, with High Point quickly taking a 7-1 lead, followed by Gardner-Webb going in front 11-10. GWU was aided in its lightning fast comeback by four errors on High Point. Once again though, the Panthers responded, this time with a 6-0 run that led to an eventual 25-19 win, and a 3-1 match defeat for the Runnin' Bulldogs.

LEADERS
Lugo finished off an impressive individual weekend with 15 kills and four block assists to lead Gardner-Webb, freshman outside hitter Haedyn Crumbley recorded 11 kills and nine digs, graduate libero Nalani McBride finished with a team-leading 16 digs and Lefebvre once again set a career-high, recording a whopping 39 of GWU's 41 assists for the game

UP NEXT
The Runnin' Bulldogs are home for the first time in Big South play next weekend, October 10th and 11st, hosting UNC Asheville and USC Upstate