Oct. 7, 2011

Final Stats

DAVIDSON, N.C. - Western Carolina defeated Davidson Friday night in a thrilling five-set match, winning 3-2 (26-24, 14-25, 25-21, 16-25, 15-9. The win puts the Catamounts above .500 in conference play, improving to 8-13 overall and 3-2 in the SoCon. The Purple and Gold remain a perfect 4-0 when winning the first set and 2-0 in five-set matches.

WCU was led offensively by senior Carrie Minogue who finished the match with 13 kills, filling up the stat sheet by adding four digs, three blocks and an assist. Classmate Brittany Lysik picked up her team-leading eighth double-double, dishing out a career-high 41 assists and 14 digs. She also added an ace and a block. Western Carolina was able to get on the board first picking up the first set, 26-24.

After trailing 16-18, the Catamounts began a comeback to take a 21-19 lead behind the play of freshman Caitlin Piechota. The Batavia, Ill., native tallied two kills and two attack errors behind the serve of Piechota gave the Catamounts the lead. The Wildcats would eventually tie the match at 24 before a Jordan Timmermann kill from a Lysik assist and a Davidson attack error would give the Purple and Gold the first set.

The Wildcats would continue the intensity in the second set jumping out to an 8-5 lead. From there, Davidson would go on a 4-0 run to make the set 12-5. A few more streaks by Davidson would give the Wildcats a 25-14 win in the second.

The third would set would remain close throughout with the Catamounts going on a 3-0 run to pick up their second set of the match. As in the Catamounts' second set loss, the Catamounts did not do well offensively in the fourth set loss. The Wildcats went up 24-12 before WCU would add four more points before Davidson would extend the match to the deciding fifth set, picking up the point from the fourth set.

The last set would begin with both teams trading points. After tying the set at four, Western Carolina would take the lead for good with an ace delivered by freshman Jordan Timmermann. An attack error by the Catamounts would put Davidson within one, but it would be as close as the Wildcats would get. A Davidson service error would anti-climatically end the match with the Catamounts coming out on top, 3-2.

Freshmen Jordan Timmermann and Caitlin Piechota both came within one of double-doubles. Timmermann was one one kill away while she had 15 digs on the night. Piechota finished with 10 kills and nine digs. Libero Morgan Cochran led the team in digs with 19. It is her 11th double-figure dig night for the season. Freshman Paige McConlogue also went over 10 digs totaling 11 against Davidson.

The win gives Western Carolina its third win in the SoCon, the most in the conference since the Catamounts won three back in 2008. The eight wins overall is the most for WCU since 2007 when the Purple and Gold won nine. The Catamounts have not picked up more than nine wins since the Catamounts won 12 during the 2004 season.

Western Carolina will return to conference action this Wednesday as the Catamounts take on rival Appalachian State in Boone at 7:00 p.m. for the first of two meetings in 2011. Live stats will be available for the match at CatamountSports.com.