GREENVILLE, S.C. – Sophomore Bailey Hartsough recorded a career-high 20 kills and added 16 digs as Western Carolina earned a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Furman on Friday evening inside Alley Gymnasium. The Catamounts won the match by scores of 25-19, 18-25, 21-25, 25-19, and 15-7.
 
WCU improves to 13-7 overall and 6-2 in league matches at the halfway point of the conference schedule. Furman drops to 4-13 and 0-7.
 
Hartsough surpassed her previous career-best mark of 18 kills which occurred three times last season. The LaGrange, Ind. native tallied her sixth double-double of the year with 16 digs. Livi Weidmann added 13 kills while Brooklyn Poling tied a career-high with 12. Destinee Dorsey was credited with a team-best 27 digs. Sydney Carlson logged a season-high 30 assists. Eden Punch swatted a team-best eight blocks.
 
Mary Beth Headley led Furman with 16 kills and added 12 digs. Grainne McGrath tallied 12 kills and eight blocks while Ava Augustson posted a double-double with 11 kills and 14 digs.
 
A Furman error gave the Catamounts an early 7-3 lead in the match. After the Paladins trimmed the WCU advantage to one, 9-8, a Poling kill sparked a 6-0 run for a 15-8 lead. The Catamounts pushed their lead to 17-10 following a Furman error before the Paladins trimmed the deficit to 21-17 thanks to a Chandler Parker kill. Furman pulled to within four points on three occasions before a Johnna Robinson kill and Paladin error closed out the set.
 
Tied at 15 in the second set, a McGrath kill sparked a 5-0 Paladin run for a 20-15 lead. After WCU took the next three points to trim its deficit to two, Furman closed out the stanza with five straight points to even the match.
 
Trailing 7-6 in the third set, WCU used a 5-1 run to grab an 11-8 advantage. With the Catamounts leading 15-14 at the media timeout, the teams traded a pair of four-point spurts to put WCU ahead 19-18. The Paladins tallied five straight points for a 23-19 lead and went on to win the set for a 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
A kill by Punch gave WCU a 10-5 lead in the fourth set. The Catamounts maintained their lead during the middle portions of the set and after a McGrath kill brought the hosts within two points, 20-18, WCU answered with three straight points and closed out the frame with a Poling kill.
 
Following a Headley kill that put the Paladins ahead 4-3 in the fifth set, a Weidmann block ignited a 9-1 WCU run capped by Poling's kill for a 12-5 advantage. Poling's final kill of the night clinched the win for WCU.
 
The Catamounts remain on the road next weekend, venturing to Mercer next Friday at 7 p.m. before facing Samford on Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. Eastern.
 
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