GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG opened its home schedule Tuesday evening inside Fleming Gymnasium and disposed of High Point 3-1 (25-16, 25-14, 27-29, 25-12) to stretch its winning streak to three games. The Spartans improve to a Southern Conference best 6-2 overall while the Panthers drop to an even 4-4.

UNCG won its second home opener in a row and snapped a three-game losing skid to its intra-Triad rival as the Spartans' last victory over the Panthers occurred in Greensboro in 2011.

Freshman setter Allison Penner was very impressive, recording her first career double-double to the tune of 46 assists and 16 digs. She added five kills, two blocks and two aces in her first home appearance. Sophomore outside hitter Ashley Muench paced the offense with 15 kills while redshirt freshman middle hitter Jasmine Jones and senior middle hitter Julia Westerbur joined her double figures with 12 and 11 respectively.

Defensively, five UNCG players checked in with double digits in the dig column led by senior defensive specialist Katherine Santiago who posted a team-best 19. Sophomore outside hitter Jessica Brezwyn just missed a double-double as she contributed eight kills and 15 digs. Freshman defensive specialist Christina Gregory also had a nice performance finishing with 13 digs and three aces.

Haley Barnes led High Point with 14 kills while Annemarie Chin recorded 37 digs in the back row.

UNCG was efficient with its offense as the Spartans racked up 60 kills on 162 attempts with 18 errors for a stout .259 hitting percentage. High Point was not as good, finishing with a team hitting percentage of .067 after making 29 errors on 164 swings with 40 kills. The Blue and Gold out-dug the Panthers 85-71 while the teams finished with six blocks apiece. UNCG also recorded eight aces to High Point's three.

A service ace by sophomore defensive specialist Anna Romaniszyn saw the Spartans lead set one 6-3 early. The lead stretched to four point at 9-5 following a Muench kill but HPU rallied to within 10-9 after a UNCG attacking error. A pair of consecutive kills from Jones capped a 4-1 run that forced High Point into its first timeout but the Spartans kept the pressure on and scored four of the next six points to push in front 18-12 and prompt the Panthers to burn their final timeout of the set. UNCG rolled from there, allowing High Point just four more points the rest of the way to clinch the first stanza 25-16.

With the Spartans in front by an 8-6 count in the second frame, UNCG score five-straight points as a kill by Muench made it 13-6 and produced a timeout from the Panther bench. HPU signaled for its final timeout of the stanza later trailing 20-12 but the damage was done as the Spartans rolled into intermission with the 25-14 set victory and a 2-0 match lead.

UNCG fell behind 10-5 in the third but quickly rallied to knot the score at 13 apiece. The teams fought to a deadlock at 20 after a kill by Penner and one of Gregory's three aces gave the Spartans set point at 24-23 a few rallies later. The Blue and Gold had four separate chances to put the match away but with UNCG in the lead 27-26, HPU captured three-straight rallies to steal the set and send the match to a fourth frame.

It was all Blue and Gold in the fourth stanza as UNCG rang up an 8-2 lead that resulted in a Panther timeout. High Point had absolutely no answer for the Spartans who led 18-8 and 22-10 before sealing the set 25-12 and the victory.  

UNCG returns to action Friday evening, hosting Norfolk State inside Fleming Gymnasium in the first match of the Spartan-Aggie Invitational. First serve is set for 7 p.m.

Keep up with the UNCG volleyball team all season by logging on to www.uncgspartans.com and following the Spartans' official Twitter accounts @uncgvb/@uncgsports.