Final Stats

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Western Carolina volleyball team split a pair of matches at the District of Columbia Invitational Saturday. WCU won 3-1 against George Mason before falling 3-1 to host Howard. Sophomore Jo-Leigh Vervelde notched her third career triple-double against GMU and second of the season with 11 kills, 18 assists and 10 digs.

WCU moved to 3-3 on the season while George Mason fell to 2-2 and Howard improved to 1-4.

Vervelde was the lone Catamount to reach double-figure kills in the win over George Mason with her 11 while sophomore Katie O’Connor chipped in nine. Freshman Alyssa Zupan and sophomore Kaycey Cermin added eight kills apiece. Vervelde and senior Cristina Nazario each dished out 18 assists while four others had one each.

Senior libero Elyssa Mulheron led the Catamounts with 16 digs while freshman Savannah Kohlhagen added 12. The Catamounts put down nine aces in the match led by Nazario’s three.

WCE won a tough first set 28-26 before dropping the second set 25-20. The third and fourth sets were all WCU as the Catamounts won 25-14 in both periods.

WCU was unable to get a single Catamount in double-digits in the kills category against Howard. Cermin, Kohlhagen and Zupan all had nine kills while O’Connor and Vervelde added seven.

Once again Vervelde and Nazario dished out the exact same amount of assists with 15 apiece. Vervelde and Mulheron shared the lead in digs with 16 each and Kohlhagen added 13.

Unlike the George Mason match WCU was unable to get a single ace and had 10 serving errors.

WCU won the first set 25-23 before dropping the final three sets, 25-22, 25-18 and 26-24.

The Catamounts will now travel to the University of Maryland for the final day of the District of Columbia Invitational. WCU will face both Maryland and Penn.