CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Freshman Julia Gardon tied a career-high with 13 kills as Western Carolina swept ETSU 3-0 on Sunday afternoon at the Ramsey Regional Activity Center. The Catamounts won by scores of 25-13, 25-17, and 25-20.
 
WCU improves to 4-6 overall and 4-4 in the Southern Conference and snapped a five-match losing skid to the Bucs. ETSU drops to 4-3 both overall and in league matches.
 
Gardon tallied 13 kills for the second straight match to equal her career-best performance. Junior Merry Gebel added 12 kills and had a team-best 16 digs for her eighth double-double of the year. Senior Hannah Price posted her third double-double of the season with 38 assists and 15 digs and added a season-high four kills. Freshman Destinee Dorsey also tallied 15 digs defensively.
 
Jenna Forster led ETSU offensively with 11 kills. Sydney Cherney tallied 12 digs followed by Emily Arnold with 11 to accompany 27 assists for the double-double, and Staley Humphries finished with 10 digs.
 
With the opening set tied at 3, WCU scored three straight points before a Bucs block brought the visitors within one, 6-5. The teams stayed within three and five points during the middle stages of the set. After an Asia Mattress kill brought ETSU within three, 12-9, WCU went on a 13-4 run to close out the set and take an early lead in the match.
 
Tied at seven in the second set, the Catamounts grabbed a 14-10 advantage thanks to a Haley Multerer kill. ETSU cut the deficit to two, 16-14, with a Sara Esposito kill before the Catamounts went on a 7-1 spurt capped by an ETSU error to take control of the set. Multerer closed out the frame with a kill.
 
A tightly contested third set featured four lead changes and 11 ties. Neither team led by more than two points as a Lundyn Coffman kill tied the set at 18. WCU used kills by Gebel and Johnna Robinson before two straight Robinson blocks gave the Catamounts a 22-18 lead. WCU led by no fewer than three points the rest of the way as the match ended on an ETSU attack error.
 
WCU hit .347 in the match that included attacking at a .455 clip – 15 kills without an error in 33 total attacks – in the second set. ETSU was limited to a .153 attack percentage finishing with 36 kills and 18 errors on 118 total attacks.
 
The Catamounts look for the weekend sweep on Monday at 5 p.m. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ (paid subscription required).
 
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).