CLEMSON, S.C. – Western Carolina opened the 2020-21 season on Saturday with a pair of matches at Clemson. The Tigers won the afternoon match 3-0 and claimed a tightly contested evening match 3-1 at Jervey Gym.
Clemson, which played five matches in the fall, is 5-3 on the season while Western Carolina is 0-2.
Match 1: Clemson 3, Western Carolina 0 (26-28, 16-25, 20-25)
Merry Gebel,
Haley Multerer, and
MaKenzie White each tallied seven kills to lead the Catamount offense.
Sydney Carlson and
Hannah Price both finished in double figures in assists with 16 and 12, respectively.
Caroline Perret had a career-high 10 digs.
Ava Pritchard paced Clemson with 11 kills followed by Ani Clark, Cate Long, and Solei Thomas with nine each. Caitlyn Meeks recorded 17 digs.
The opening set featured nine ties and three lead changes with four points being the largest lead for either team. With the Catamounts holding a 14-13 lead, WCU tallied four of the next five points to lead 18-14 after a
Johnna Robinson kill. Clemson answered with four straight points to tie the set at 18. WCU led 23-20 after a White block but the Tigers battled back to claim the opening set 28-26.
In the second set, Clemson raced out to a 6-1 lead before WCU battled back within two, 8-6. The Tigers took control of the set with a 10-2 run and went up 2-0 for the match with a 25-16 win.
WCU took advantage of two straight Tiger errors to pull within one, 12-11, in the third set. Clemson tallied three straight points only to have WCU answer with kills by White and
Madison McNally to stay within two, 15-13. The Tigers led by five points, 22-17, but the Catamounts took advantage of two Tiger errors and a Perret service ace to draw within two, 22-20. Clemson then scored the final three points of the set to clinch the match.
Match 2: Clemson 3, Western Carolina 1 (21-25, 24-26, 25-22, 17-25)
Haley Multerer had a team-best 13 kills while
Merry Gebel tallied her first double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs.
Destinee Dorsey had a match-best 24 digs while
Hannah Price tallied 17 assists.
Clemson had three players with double-doubles: Solei Thomas (16 kills, 18 digs), Cate Long (10 kills, 16 digs), and McKenna Slavik (46 assists, 11 digs). Ava Pritchard also finished in double figures offensively with 14 kills.
A block by
MaKenzie White gave the Catamounts an 8-5 lead in the early stages of the first set. Clemson rode a 7-1 run for a 13-10 advantage before the Catamounts knotted the set at 16 with a Multerer kill. Clemson tallied three straight points before the Catamounts crept within one, 19-18, after a White kill. The teams traded the next two points before Clemson scored three straight points and clinched the set after a Catamount error.
A tightly contested second set had three lead changes and six ties as neither team led by more than three points. With Clemson leading 23-31, consecutive Multerer kills allowed WCU to pull even. After the teams traded the next two points, kills by Thomas and Pritchard gave the Tigers a 26-24 win.
WCU opened the second set on an 8-3 run but the Tigers cut the Catamount lead to one, 12-11, thanks to a Thomas kill. WCU answered with two straight points and pushed their lead to 17-13 before the Tigers tied the set at 19 on a Long kill. WCU took the next three points with two
Julia Gardon kills and a Multerer kill to lead 22-19.
Sydney Carlson gave the Catamounts their first set win of the season with a kill.
With the fourth set tied at 12, Clemson scored seven of the next eight points for a 19-13 lead and led by no less than five points the rest of the way.
Western Carolina opens the Southern Conference portion of its season on Sunday, Jan. 31, hosting Wofford at 3 p.m.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount volleyball and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountVB).
