Nov. 6, 2004

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina had four players tally double figure kills as it closed out the road portion of the 2004 schedule with a hard-fought 3-2 (21-30, 30-28, 30-25, 26-30, 15-13) victory over UNC Greensboro Saturday afternoon at Flemming Gym.

The Catamounts (12-14, 8-7 SoCon) were led by red shirt freshman Danielle Spitzer, who hammered home 15 kills on a .273 attack percentage. She added three block assists in the winning effort. UNCG (3-28, 0-14) was paced by Cindy VanDervoort with a match-high 22 kills.

UNC Greensboro took game one by a count of 30-21, taking the early advantage, 1-0. The Spartans broke open a 12-12 contest with five straight points to lead, 17-12, and would not trail the remainder of the game. Game's two and three were taken by Western in a pair of back-and-forth games. The Catamounts squeezed out a 30-28 win in game two and in game three, scored nine of the last 14 points to snap a 21-21 tie, and go on to the 30-25 win.

The Spartans would not go away, though, as UNCG stormed back with a 30-26 win in game four, hitting a match-high .516, to send the match into a fifth and deciding game. The Spartans held an 8-6 lead in the finale, but Western put together one last push, scoring nine of the last 14 points to garner the hard fought 15-13 victory.

Freshman Meredith Harmon joined Spitzer in double figures, extending her current streak to seven games with at least 11 kills by finishing with 12 on the afternoon. Classmate Melissa Parana and senior Layna Stoetzel each added 10 kills, a career-high for Stoetzel, and combined for eight block assists at the net. Senior Stefanie Peters just missed a double-double, finishing with nine kills to accompany 15 digs.

Sophomore setters Meghan Boyle and Kate Willard dished out 26 and 24 assists, respectively, with Boyle adding a pair of kills and seven digs. Junior Ellie Talbot again led the Cats defensively with 21 digs, followed closely by sophomore Heather Koontz with 17.

Western Carolina returns home next Sunday, November 14 to host North Division leading Appalachian State in the Ramsey Center in the regular season finale as a part of "Purple Pride" week. Prior to the match, the Cats will honor their two seniors, Peters and Stoetzel.