Nov. 13, 2005

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Sophomore Meredith Harmon hammered home a match-high 19 kills Sunday afternoon in leading the Western Carolina volleyball team to a 3-1 (30-28, 20-30, 30-27, 30-10) win over UNC Greensboro in the regular season finale in Fleming Gym.

Western's victory, coupled with Wofford's 3-0 loss to Davidson on Saturday and Chattanooga staving off Elon in five games in the Southern Conference's final regular season match on Sunday created a two-way tie for seventh in the standings between the Catamounts and Terriers. Both Western Carolina and Wofford finished with identical 7-11 conference records, with the tie-breaker in head-to-head competition favoring the Catamounts by virtue of WCU's 3-1 win in Spartanburg on Sept. 13 in the SoCon opener.

The Catamounts will enter the 2005 SoCon Volleyball Championship this Thursday, Nov. 17 at Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, Ga., as the seventh seed and will face the same Spartans, the tourney's 10th seed, in the second match of the opening day at 12:30 pm.

Harmon recorded her 13th double-digit kill performance of the season, hitting over .400 for the fourth time this season and second time in the past three matches. She added four total blocks, including two solo stops in the win. Senior Ellie Talbot and Heather Koontz contributed 13 and 11 kills, respectively to give Western Carolina (8-24, 7-11 SoCon) three players in double figures in kills. Talbot and Koontz each came up with 23 digs on the defensive end for the Catamounts, which ties Koontz' career-best.

Meghan Boyle doled out 40 assists while making 10 digs for the third double-double for WCU, with juniors Kate Willard and Krista Neumann combining for 22 total digs. Also, sophomore Danielle Spitzer just missed double-digits offensively with eight kills, adding eight total blocks (2 solo, 6 assists) in the winning effort.

After falling behind 14-7 in game one, Western mounted a comeback, using a 10-3 spurt to tie the game at 17-17. The two teams traded points in the tightly contested game, which was still knotted at 28-28 until a Harmon kill and a Spartan attack error gave the Catamounts the 30-28 victory in game one.

UNC Greensboro got off to another quick start in game two, racing to a 15-8 advantage. Western again charged back, but this time the Spartans lead would hold. The Cats pulled to within two points, 21-19, but UNCG closed game two with a 9-1 run to garner the 30-20 win.

In the opening minutes of the third game, UNCG led 8-1 before the Catamounts reversed their fortunes. WCU chipped away at the deficit, eventually tying the game at 25-25. Western took the lead for good at 27-26 on a kill by Harmon, taking the 2-to-1 match lead with the 30-27 victory.

Game four saw Western score the first five points and lead 8-1 early. The Catamounts then ran off 11-straight points to take a commanding 28-9 lead, before closing out the match with a 30-10 victory in game four marking the largest margin of victory in a game for WCU this season.

Junior Hilary Overby led UNC Greensboro (5-25, 2-16 SoCon) with her third straight double-double of the week as she came up with 15 kills and 17 digs, while senior Lori Collins put away 14 kills and had eight digs in her final home match as a member of the Spartans volleyball program. Fellow senior Lauren Richards and sophomore Lauren Keiser had nine kills apiece, while Richards also added eight blocks.

Senior Adrian Hicks had a match-best 45 assists and sophomore Alysia Rosvold had 12 digs.

Check back with www.CatamountSports.com on Monday for in-depth coverage of the upcoming Southern Conference Volleyball Championship in Statesboro, Ga.