Oct. 17, 2003
Final Stats
Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina fought hard and kept the match close, but ultimately could not hold on as Georgia Southern defeated the Catamounts 30-28, 30-25, 30-27 in Southern Conference volleyball action on WCU's annual Parents' Night. With the loss, the Catamounts drop to 11-11 overall and 4-5 in the conference. The Eagles improve to 12-9 overall with a 7-1 league record.
The Eagles came out strong in the first game with four team blocks behind the powerful hitting of senior Martina Veiglova who recorded six kills and a .455 attack percentage. Down by just three at 27-24, the Catamounts sparked a comeback after two consecutive kills by junior Stefanie Peters to bring the score within one. However, GSU followed with two points of their own, which forced Western to take a timeout. After the break, the Cats came back with another two points to bring the game to 29-28, but Southern answered on a kill by Veiglova to end the game.
Game two started just as close as the first had ended with six ties before the Eagles took the lead for good at 11-10 on another kill by Veiglova. With Western facing an eight-point deficit at 25-17, the Cats battled back into the game, led by senior Shari Harder's nine digs, until they once again fell behind by eight at the 29-21 mark. After a timeout, WCU came at the Eagles with four straight points to challenge for the win, but Georgia Southern pulled out the victory after an attack error on Heather Koontz.
The intermission seemed to spark a fire in the Catamounts as they led most for of the most of the third game. Powered by freshman Kellyn Thaut's five kills and five digs in the third, the Cats found themselves ahead 24-22. However, the Eagles wouldn't go away quietly, coming back with five consecutive points forcing Western to take another timeout. To seal the win, GSU once again turned to Veiglova who slammed the ball to the other side of the net just past the reach of the Catamount back row.
The Eagles were led by Veiglova's match-high 19 kills and .421 hitting percentage. Libero Megan Lippi gave a strong defensive effort for GSU with 19 digs, while Christina Lentz posted a match-high eight blocks (one solo, seven assisted). Georgia Southern, the conference leader in attack percentage, hit .266 for the match.
The Catamounts were led by senior Sara Komosinski's 12 kills as she hit .385 for the match. She now needs just 13 kills to place herself on WCU's all-time list. Thaut added 12 kills, while junior Layna Stoetzel had six kills on 10 attacks with no errors for a .600 hitting percentage. Harder led the Cats with 15 digs, which brings her career total to 1,173, good for fourth in Western's career record book.
Western Carolina returns to action Sunday, Oct. 19, as the Cats host Davidson at 4 pm in Reid Gym.
