High Point Wins 2022 Big South Volleyball Championship
By High Point Athletics
HIGH POINT, N.C. - No. 2 High Point swept No. 1 Campbell 3-0 to win the conference tournament and earn an automatic spot in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Coach Ryan Meek on the win: "It is just a big team win. If you look up and down on our roster, everyone contributed. I think the coolest thing for me was our resilience. I felt that in sets 2 and 3, we never crumbled, we were just up to make the next play. We stayed steady and I think you always look for signs of maturation within your team and that is what I saw tonight".
High Point was dominant in the first set. The team came out firing taking a 15-10 lead early. Tournament MVP Sydney Palazzolo had 5 kills in the first set alone and Dylan Maberry put the icing on the cake with a strong kill to take the first 25-17.
The Panthers trailed 4-1 to start off set 2 until Sopheea Mink leapt and spiked one down to respond. Palazzolo tied the score at eleven with a kill that stunned the Camels. It was Mink again with back-to-back kills that edged the Panthers up 18-16 and got the Millis Center rocking. A Palazzolo drop-shot ended set two in favor of HPU 26-24.
In the third set, the Panthers fell behind early but they did not let down for a second. After a 13-9 lead by Campbell, High Point quickly responded with a run that tied the set at 16. Maberry, with a soft touch, scored to make it 23-22. Just moments later, she tallied another to take the match until it was deemed an error and rewarded back to Campbell. An attack error by Campbell and Palazzolo's 16th kill of the night crowned High Point 2022 Big South Champions
All-Tournament Team
Sydney Palazzolo, High Point (MVP)
Dylan Maberry, High Point
Sopheea Mink, High Point
Melody Paige, Campbell
Claranne Fechter, Campbell
Alayna Jansky, Winthrop
Indigo Young, Charleston Southern
Sydney Palazzolo: "It is a dream come true. Since we were all little girls, everyone on the team has been wanting to go to the NCAA tournament and now it is finally happening; it is really exciting."