Final Stats

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The Western Carolina volleyball team fell behind 2-0 to William & Mary in its first match of the East Carolina Invitational Friday night. The Catamounts battled back to tie the match at two but the Tribe used a late run in the fifth set to claim a 3-2 victory in the match.

The loss drops WCU’s record to 3-6 on the year while the Tribe improved to 4-4.

Sophomore Katie O'Connor was the lone Catamount to reach double figure kills with 11 while also leading the team with five blocks. Freshman Savannah Kohlhagen chipped in nine kills and 11 digs while freshman Alyssa Zupan and sophomore Jo-Leigh Vervelde each had eight kills. Zupan added four blocks while Vervelde led the team in assists with 20, added 13 digs and also contributed three blocks.

Reigning Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week senior Elyssa Mulheron led the way in digs with 18 while senior setter Cristina Nazario added 19 assists and nine digs.

The Catamounts struggled in the opening two sets hitting just .042 as a team. The Tribe on the other hand hit .329 as a team. W&M won the opening two sets 25-13 and 25-16. The Catamounts turned the match around in the third set as they hit .273 in the period and held the Tribe to .073. WCU won that period 25-13 and turned the momentum around. The Catamounts took the third set 25-20 as the Tribe had 10 attack errors in the period.

The Tribe opened the fifth set by taking a quick 3-0 lead. W&M eventually led 6-3 before WCU used a 4-0 run to take a 7-6 lead that featured back-to-back-to-back blocks by the Catamounts. The Tribe were forced to call a timeout but that did not stop the run as O’Connor came out of the break to give WCU an 8-6 lead. W&M found its rhythm and rattled off three-straight points to retake the lead at 9-8 which forced a timeout call by WCU. O’Connor once again came out of the timeout and gave WCU a point which tied the set at nine.

The Tribe and Catamounts traded the next two points to knot the set at 10 but a pair of attack errors and three service aces by the Tribe ended WCU’s comeback bid as William & Mary secured the set 15-10.

Overall the Tribe had 10 service aces in the match including three in the final four points of the match. William & Mary was led by Heather Pippus who had 14 kills and eight digs. Dessi Koleva added 11 kills and 14 digs. Katie Kemp played just the final set for the Tribe and she proved to be the difference as she accounted for all three service aces.

The Catamounts will return to action tomorrow, Sept. 12 as they face the hosts, East Carolina, at 12:30 pm before taking on Hampton at 3:00 pm.