WCU vs. Wake Forest Final Stats

WCU vs. Winthrop Final Stats

Winston-Salem, N.C. - The Western Carolina volleyball team was unable to keep its three-match sweep streak alive as the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest University and the Eagles of Winthrop University handed the Catamounts a pair of losses at the Deacon Classic Saturday afternoon. Wake Forest opened the action with a 3-1 win over WCU while Winthrop downed the Catamounts 3-0.

The losses end Western Carolina's time at the Deacon Classic with a 1-2 record. The Catamounts are now 6-7 on the year while Wake Forest improves to 9-4 and Winthrop moves to 9-6.

Western Carolina won the opening set of the day against Wake 25-20 but the Demon Deacons won the next three, 26-24, 25-17 and 25-22. Winthrop battled WCU for an opening set 25-23 win in the second match and then took a 25-23 victory in the second set and cruised to a 25-18 win in the third.

Senior Caitlin Piechota led the Catamounts against Wake Forest with 13 kills and six digs. Senior Jordan Timmermann added 10 kills, nine digs and three blocks. Classmate Brandi Anderson finished third in kills with nine while adding a pair of blocks.

Junior Cristina Nazario and freshman Jo-Leigh Vervelde continued to split setting duties. Nazario ended the opening match with 22 assists, 10 digs and a pair of service aces. Vervelde had 21 assists, 11 digs, six kills, two blocks and two service aces.

Junior libero Elyssa Mulheron led the team with 19 digs.

The Catamounts hit .286 as a team in the match while the Demon Deacons hit .315.

Senior Addy George led the Catamounts against Winthrop with 10 kills and four blocks including one solo. Piechota added seven kills and a block while Timmermann had five kills, 10 digs and three blocks.

Freshman Katie O'Connor hosted her own block party as she posted a match-high seven blocks to go along with three kills. Anderson joined in on the fun with five blocks and four kills.

Nazario and Vervelde each had 16 assists. Nazario added six digs while Vervelde had four kills, three digs, two service aces and a block. Mulheron once again led in the digs department with 20.

The Catamounts recorded 11 blocks but it was not enough to overcome the Eagles who hit .254 as a team while WCU hit .142.

WCU plays its final non-conference match of the season as the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs visit the Ramsey Center Wednesday night. The match begins at 7 p.m.