Sept. 16, 2008

Box Score

CULLOHWEE, N.C. - A pair of career-highs by freshmen Carrie Minogue and Rebecca Stoltz wasn't enough to push Western Carolina volleyball (0-10) past mountain rival UNC Asheville (6-4), as the Catamounts fell 3-1 (26-28, 30-28, 27-25, 12-25) to the Bulldogs in its home opener Tuesday in the Ramsey Center.

Western Carolina pushed three of the four games into overtime, taking game two, but just couldn't seem to get past the Bulldogs.

"We just couldn't seem to have a complete game tonight," said Head Volleyball Coach Stephanie Dragan. "It was a great effort by Carrie and Rebecca and we had some good performances defensively, but overall errors really hurt us."

Minogue was scorching on the court, with a career-high 19 kills and a .441 attack percentage, committing just four errors in 34 attempts. Teammate Stoltz had a career-high five blocks, four of them solo and also had five kills.

"Carrie played incredible tonight, she had the presence to come up with some big plays," Dragan said. "Rebecca's blocks gave us some huge momentum swings, and she has shown a lot of growth."

In game one, the contest was tied at 20 when both teams traded points back and forth. Tying the game five more times, in that stretch, Western Carolina had game point, at 26-25, but costly attack error tied the game again and UNC Asheville scored the final two points to win game one.

Western Carolina took the advantage in game two. This time it was a Bulldog error that set up the Catamount win, as a pair of UNCA errors gave WCU the win.

Game three was also a tight contest with UNC Asheville coming out on top. The Bulldogs pulled away in game four, as the Catamounts had a -.037 attack percentage and they had their best attack percentage of the night, in a game, with .393.

Western Carolina hosts the Catamount Clash on September 19-20. The first match for the Catamounts, in the tournament, is a t 2:30 p.m. against Norfolk State.