Volleyball preseason shows promise for the upcoming season
By Collin Giuliani
Last season, the High Point Panthers won the Big South Championship for the second time in school history, and for the first time since 2010. Head coach Tom Mendoza, in his first season with the team, became the first head coach to win the Big South Championship in his first season since Jane Scroggs won the Big South Championship with Radford in 1987 in her first season. This year, the Panthers will be looking to build off of a successful 2016 campaign and repeat as champions for the first time in school history.
HPU returns most of their core from last year’s championship squad. The Panthers only lost three seniors from last year’s team, and of the nine players to play at least 100 sets in 2016, seven of them return for the 2017 season. Additionally, HPU retains their top three leaders in kills, blocks, and assists, and retains their top two leaders in digs from last year’s team.
Middle blocker Jordan Hefner returns for her junior season. Last season, Hefner led the entire Big South Conference in blocks, recording 143 blocks and averaging 1.15 blocks per set. By averaging 1.15 blocks per set in her sophomore season, Hefner set the school record for most blocks per set, breaking Jamie McDonald’s record set in 2012 when she averaged 1.01 blocks per set. Prior to last season, the school record for most blocks in a season was 110, set by Katie Vincent in 2013 and Jamie McDonald in 2012. Hefner broke this record by 33 blocks in 2016. Her 2016 total of 143 blocks not only set a school record, but placed inside the top 50 in the entire NCAA.
After being named to the All-Big South First Team for the past two seasons, senior outside hitter Haley Barnes was named to the Preseason All-Big South Team. Last season, Barnes had the second most kills in the Big South Conference, recording 418 kills for an average of 3.43 kills per set. In her three seasons with HPU, Barnes has averaged 3.18 kills per set, which is the sixth best career total in school history. Last season, Barnes became the tenth player in school history since 1999, when HPU made the jump to Division I, to record 1,000 career kills.
Junior middle blocker Molly Livingston also received a spot on the Preseason All-Big South Team this year. Livingston was named the Big South Freshman of the Year in 2015, and received a spot on the All-Big South First Team in 2016 after having the third highest attack percentage in the Big South, as well as the third most service aces in the conference. Livingston recorded 120 blocks last season, which was the second most ever recorded by an HPU player in the Division I era, and was one of just seven players in the entire conference to average more than a block per set.
The Panthers begin their season on Aug. 25, when they travel to Northern Illinois to take part in the Northern Illinois Tournament against Northern Illinois, Cal Poly, and Dayton. Their first game at the Millis Center will be on Sept. 5 against Virginia Commonwealth University. Non-conference play concludes on Sept. 16 with a home game against Triad rival Elon, while conference play begins on Sept. 19 on the road with a game against Liberty University.
HPU is picked to finish second in the Big South according to the preseason poll, as Radford enters the season as the preseason favorite. Radford had the best regular season record in the conference last season, and this year, will host the Big South Tournament, which starts on Nov. 17 and concludes on Nov. 19. The winner of that tournament will receive an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament.
