WEST POINT — The Point volleyball team (12-7, 8-1) continued its domination in conference play by defeating St. Andrews University 25-7, 23-25, 25-14, 25-10 on Saturday morning.

The win also increased the Skyhawks’ winning streak to nine matches.

“Honestly, we focus on going 1-0 every time we play,” Point head volleyball coach Joe Herrera said. “I don’t even think the girls know what the streak is, but we just focus on 1-0 every time we play. If we do that, it will all add up to what we want to accomplish. We’re playing great, playing together and playing hard. I’m feeling good, but there’s still a lot of work to do, a lot of good teams ahead of us to accomplish our main goal.”

Point cruised through the first set and held a late lead in the second set before St. Andrews came back to tie at 21 and avoid the sweep. 

The Skyhawks have lost two of their last three second sets.

“I don’t know what it is, we just don’t like second sets,” Herrera said. “I don’t think that we played bad, the other team made some adjustments and that’s what happened. They adjusted, we didn’t, but we came back and made adjustments in the third and fourth sets.”

Point controlled the remainder of the match, holding off St. Andrews’ final comeback attempt in the fourth set.

Senior right-side hitter Charlotte Havrisik finished with a match-leading 18 kills. Senior setter Julia Felix finished with 42 assists and 24 digs. Senior libero Tessa Burns led Point with 34 digs in the win. Junior defensive specialist Emma Boles finished with 12 digs. Senior outside hitter Faith Pearson finished second among all Skyhawks with 13 kills to go along with her nine digs.

Pearson, who transferred from NCAA D-II program West Georgia this past spring, said that while the team experienced a lot of change this season, the process has remained enjoyable.

“From the get-go, we’ve been doing amazing,” Pearson said. “I feel like this is my home that I’ve been waiting to come back to and I feel like that we’ve meshed in such a short time. These girls are very welcoming and everyone’s amazing here”

The changes that the program has witnessed, headlined by Pearson transferring in and Herrera being named the new head coach, didn’t result in automatic on-the-court success. The Skyhawks began the season 4-7, losing the first conference match to in-state rival Reinhardt.

That Sept. 5 loss on the road against Reinhardt marked the last loss the program has suffered. 

“All of the credit has to go to all 23 of these girls,” Herrera said. “They’ve decided that they were going to work together, they were going to get better in practice. My assistant coaches have done a great job breaking things down, trusting the process and finally understanding that it’s just one game at a time.”

With 12 regular-season matches remaining, the expectation remains high for Pearson.

“Oh, we’re going all the way,” she said enthusiastically before smiling. “Losing is not in the gameplan. All we see is dubs.”

Point heads on the road to face Columbia International University on Oct. 8 or another conference matchup. Columbia International is the team that Point started its winning streak against on Sept. 10 at home in five sets.

On Oct. 12 against Tennessee Wesleyan, Felix will be acknowledged for recently surpassing 3,000 career assists at Point. That match is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT.