Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball's historic season continues this week as the Catamounts were selected Sunday to host their quarterfinal match of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) on Wednesday evening. The Catamounts welcome Sun Belt Conference member Southern Miss (20-11) to the Ramsey Center with a 6 p.m. match time.
Admission for Wednesday's postseason match is FREE and will be
broadcast on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required) with live stats of the quarterfinal match-up available
online through CatamountSports.com.
WCU (20-12) advanced into the quarterfinals round by rallying past region-host Liberty (3-1) on Saturday and sweeping Toledo in straight sets on Sunday, collecting the program's first 20-win season in 20 years – last hitting the 20-victory milestone back in 200, finishing 22-12. WCU has won three of its past four matches overall and posted a 6-2 mark at home on Ingles Court in the Ramsey Center this year.
Several efforts keyed the Catamounts' pair of wins in Lynchburg, propelling the squad into the quarterfinals. Junior
Livi Weidmann recorded a team-best 23 kills in the two matches with sophomore
Bailey Hartsough and fifth-year senior
Merry Gebel tallying 19 and 18, respectively. Junior
Destinee Dorsey posted 23 digs, averaging 3.3 per set with Gebel adding 18 on the defensive end. Headlined by 11 total blocks against region-host Liberty, junior
Eden Punch tallied 13 total blocks in the two wins, while fifth-year senior
Sydney Carlson dished out 37 assists, averaging 18.5 per match – or 5.3 per set.
Southern Miss finished fourth in the Sun Belt Conference's West Division before falling in four sets in its opening match in the second round of the SBC Tournament in Foley, Ala. With an NCAA RPI of 137, the Golden Eagles earned their first berth into the NIVC, winning its two matches in Troy, Ala., outlasting Alabama State 3-1 and sweeping UT-Martin. On the year, USM is 5-6 in true road games.
The Catamounts and Golden Eagles have met just once previously in volleyball, a 3-0 victory for USM back in the 1993 season.
WCU is among seven teams to advance to the quarterfinals through the weekend: Boston College (21-13), Davidson (22-10), Pacific (18-13), Southern Miss (20-11), UTRGV (27-6), and Xavier (21-11). One additional team will join the quarterfinal field on Monday as Drake (27-7) visits Grand Canyon (18-10) with the winner facing Pacific.
Semifinal matches will be played Dec. 8-11 with the championship to be played Dec. 11-13. Additional tournament information is available online at
https://www.womensnivc.com.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount volleyball and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts, @catamountvb), and Twitter (@catamounts, @catamountvb).
