Aug. 26, 2011

Final Stats

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Despite a nine kill effort from senior Carrie Minogue, the Catamounts (0-1) dropped a three-set decision to USC Upstate, 19-25, 23-25, 17-25 on Friday afternoon in the opening match of the regular season and the Marriott Cavalier Classic.

"We had some definite bright spots this first match, but we also have a lot to work on," said first-year head coach Karen Glover.

"Carrie did an excellent job at the net, leading us both offensively with nine kills and defensively with six blocks."

In the first set, Western Carolina jumped on the board first after a kill by senior Abbey Scroggins off of the Brittany Lysik set. The rest of the set would remain close with neither team gaining an advantage of more than three points until the Spartans of Upstate went up 20-16, before taking the first set 25-19.

After falling behind 17-10 in the second set, the Catamounts came storming back to get within two of the Spartans, down 20-18, from points by Minogue and freshman newcomer Jordan Timmerman. WCU got within one of Upstate's 24 points, dropping the last point to go down 2-0.

The Purple and Gold streaked to a 5-1 lead to start the final set before hitting a match low 7% in the third. The Catamounts dropped the third set 25-17.

Defensively, Western Carolina sophomore libero Morgan Cochran posted 16 digs, while Jordan Timmermann had three block assists and 12 digs.

Senior Abbey Scroggins was also able to log a career-high 10 digs. Her previous best of six took place against Elon during the 2009 season. Becky Stoltz added eight kills and eights digs

In her first match at setter, Brittany Lysik paced WCU with 29 out of the team's 33 assists.

Western Carolina will return to action tomorrow as the Catamounts continue play in the Marriott Cavalier Classic on the campus of the University of Virginia against Western Michigan at 11 a.m. and the host Virginia Cavaliers at 7 p.m. Live stats for both of Saturday's matches can be found at CatamountSports.com.