Final Stats

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Western Carolina volleyball team used an all-around effort to down visiting Wofford in both programs Southern Conference opener Friday night inside the Ramsey Center. The Catamounts had five individuals reach double-figure kills and five reach double-digit digs.

Senior Nicole Ford had her breakout match of the season as she tied for the team lead with 13 kills and also led the Catamounts in blocks with six. She hit .320 after committing five errors on 25 attacks. Freshman Savannah Kohlhagen tied Ford for the team lead in kills with 13 while posting a double-double with 18 digs.

Freshman Alyssa Zupan came off the bench and put down 12 kills while sophomore Katie O'Connor connected on 11 kills on just 19 swings while compiling a .421 attack percentage.

The final Catamount with double-digit kills was sophomore Jo-Leigh Vervelde who completed her NCAA leading sixth triple-double of the season with 10 kills, 30 assists and 18 digs. She also had four blocks and a team-high three service aces.

Senior libero Elyssa Mulheron and sophomore defensive specialist Lucy Lambert tied for the team lead in digs with 21 while senior setter Cristina Nazario dished out 30 assists while digging up 13 balls.

The Catamounts never trailed in the opening set Friday night as they cruised to a 25-21 victory. The Terriers turned the tables in the second set as they led most of the way. The Catamounts battled back to tie the set at 23 but the Terriers were able to hang on and take the second stanza 25-23.

WCU jumped out to a 16-6 lead in the third set and never looked back as the Catamounts took a 25-16 victory and 2-1 match lead. The fourth set looked to be shaping up to be another Catamount runaway as WCU led 18-10. A 10-4 run by the Terriers cut WCU's lead to 22-20 late in the period. A kill by Ford forced WCU's first match point of the night at 24-21 but four-straight points by the Terriers turned the tables. Three of the points came of WCU errors and the fourth was a service ace. Trailing 25-24, WCU came up with a kill by Vervelde to tie the set at 25 but Wofford answered with two more points to force a fifth set at 27-25.

The fifth set looked to be in Wofford's control as the Terriers stormed out to an 8-2 lead as the two teams switched sides of the court. Following the switch, WCU rattled off three-straight points to cut the Terrier's lead to three at 8-5. Following a Wofford timeout, the Terriers pushed their lead back to five at 10-5 but the Catamounts answered with a 5-0 run that featured three kills, a service ace and a Wofford attack error.

With the fifth set tied at 10 the match was up for grabs. Wofford struck first with a kill but a pair of kills by WCU and a Wofford attack error gave WCU a 13-11 advantage. The Terriers would not go down easy as they answered with a kill and a service ace which forced WCU to call a timeout with the set tied at 13. Following the timeout, Zupan and Ford went back-to-back with kills to end the match in the Catamounts favor, 15-13.

The win gives WCU a 1-0 start to Southern Conference play and improves the Catamounts overall record to 7-10. The Terriers fell to 7-9 overall and 0-1 in SoCon action.

The Terriers were led by Bella Santoro who had a match-high 17 kills and 18 digs. Alex Holland added 15 kills while Danni Densford had 14 kills and four blocks.

The Catamounts will not have long to celebrate their hard fought victory as they hit the road tomorrow, Sept. 26 to face Chattanooga at 6 pm. The game will be carried on the SoCon Digital Network. The Mocs defeated UNCG 3-1 tonight at home.