Sept. 5, 2003

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - The Western Carolina volleyball team shut out Coastal Carolina, 30-26, 30-21, 30-28, in the team's first contest of the fourth annual Catamount Clash Friday night in the Ramsey Center. The Catamounts improve to 1-3 on the season, while the Chanticleers drop to 1-3 overall.

Western's attacking game prevailed in the match as they led in hitting percentage in each of the three games. The Catamounts were led by freshman Kellyn Thaut, who came out strong with 13 kills, three errors and 37 attacks for a .270 hitting percentage. Senior Sara Komosinski led the team with four blocks, adding seven kills and 11 digs. Senior setter Shari Harder dished out 31 assists in the match and led the team with 18 digs.

For Coastal, it was sophomore Katherine Jensen who led the team effort with 12 kills on 38 attacks, adding 11 digs and two blocks. Freshman Kristin Rinne led the field defensively with 20 digs on the night.

The Cats tallied 86 digs to Coastal's 81 and recorded seven team blocks over CCU's four.

"Shari played great tonight," praised WCU head coach Angell Benson. "She really utilized her hitters. I'm impressed with our team. They are becoming more cohesive and building stronger team chemistry. Coastal Carolina is a tough team. We beat them in five games last year, so we really stepped up our game tonight."

The Catamount Clash continues Saturday in the Ramsey Center with CCU facing Tennessee State in the first match at 11 am. WCU squares off against Savannah State at 1 pm, SSU plays Coastal at 3 pm and Western closes out the tournament with a match-up against TSU at 5 pm.