BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The Fighting Camels downed High Point in straight sets to take over the top spot in the Big South Saturday inside Gore Arena. Campbell (16-8, 11-1) now controls its own destiny with four matches remaining in league play.
 
The loss was High Point's (19-6, 11-1) first regular season conference loss since the final game of the 2019 regular season. The win was Campbell's first over the Panthers since the Big South tournament semifinal that same year. With today's win, Campbell matches its season-best win streak at seven matches and has now won 14 of the last 15.
 
The Camels played their most efficient match of the season, hitting .352 for the day. That mark is the highest percentage of the season by 53 points, and best since .424 against Radford on April 1, 2021. Campbell committed just 10 attack errors during the match, the second fewest this season. The attack was led by Sarah Colla with 12 kills and Chloe Cook with 10.
 
"Really proud of our attackers across the board," head coach Greg Goral said. "We hit really efficiently and took care of the ball and made them pay. Sarah carried us for most of the match and everybody else contributed with really efficient numbers as well."
 
Campbell came out hot, hitting .433 in the opening frame with 16 kills to just three errors. Despite the big numbers, it was a slow start for the Camels who trailed 13-5 in the early going. After a steady climb to draw close, Campbell put together a furious 8-1 run to end the first and take the early advantage 25-21.
 
"Once we settled in and pushed to finish the first set the way we wanted to we were lights out. We played aggressive, we played intelligent, attacked the right areas of the court, defend well and took away most of what High Point wanted to do."
 
No comeback was needed in the second set with HPU's only lead coming at 2-1. The Camels controlled the set the whole way and led by as many as seven at 20-13. Colla had a big set with five kills and Lailah Green added a pair of aces to pace the Camels to a 25-22 win.
 
The Camels learned from their mistakes less than 24 hours prior and did not let this match slip away in the third set, never trailing during the frame. Campbell opened up the largest lead of the match at 24-12 en route to a 25-16 win. Cook finished the match strong with five kills in the final set.
 
The Camels defense was also solid on the night and came away with 10 blocks and held HPU, the league's most efficient team, to hitting .224. Paige and Colla both had five block assists on the night. Madee Miner led the Camels with nine digs while Fechter added seven.
 
The Panthers were led by Dylan Maberry, Maggie Salley and Gabrielle Idlebird all with nine kills.
 
Campbell will head on the road for the final time this season for a pair of matches at USC Upstate on Friday and UNC Asheville on Saturday.