SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Junior Bailey Hartsough and sophomore Ali Morris both eclipsed the 20-kill plateau with 22 and 20, respectively, as sixth-seeded Western Carolina volleyball came up just short in Friday's SoCon Quarterfinals, falling in five hard-fought sets to No. 3 seed Wofford at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.

Wofford escaped a match-point in the fourth set before outlasting the Catamounts in the fifth, winning the match by the scores of 20-25, 25-19, 11-25, 27-25, 15-12.

Hartsough led the Catamounts with her fifth career 20+ kill performance as the LaGrange, Ind. native finished with 22 kills to accompany 13 digs for her 13th double-double of the season. Morris matched her career-high with 20 kills and tallied a new career-best with 26 digs on the defensive end. Hartsough and Morris became the first pair of Catamounts to total 20+ kills in the same match since Merry Gebel (24) and Abigail Veit (24) did it against Furman on September 28, 2019. 

Sarah Janourova finished with a career-high 55 assists and added 17 digs for her team-best 16th double-double of the season. The 55 assists represented the first time a Catamount setter surpassed the 50-assist mark since Hannah Price finished with 54 on March 1, 2021, against ETSU to eclipse 50 helpers in a match for WCU.

Senior Livi Weidmann concluded her WCU career with 15 kills for the 11th time, eclipsing 10 kills in a match during the 2023 campaign. Classmate Eden Punch finished her Western Carolina career leading the way on the block again on Friday with six rejections to give her 289 in her WCU career. Punch cemented herself in 10th place in total blocks (289), ninth in block assists (225), and 12th in solo blocks (64). 

Freshman Eda Yalcinkaya finished with a career-high 19 digs on the defensive end and Aviah Miller also added a career-high in digs on Friday with 17. 

As a team, WCU set season-highs in kills (66), attempts (196), assists (63), digs (102) and blocks (12). The 102 digs recorded on Friday is the most WCU has had in a match since the same mark was hit on February 1, 2021, at The Citadel. 

Sarah MacLean led the Terriers with 16 kills, Addison Foote added 12 kills for the hosts, and Mary Emily Morgan rounded out the offensive attack with 10. Emily Hodsdon led the way in the assist column with 32 helpers as Taylor Pecht finished with 23. Laney Klika led all players with 33 digs as Foote added 16 and Hodsdon had a dozen. Barham led Wofford with seven blocks. 

The early stages of the first set were tight as it featured five ties before a 6-4 spurt allowed Western Carolina to take an 11-9 lead. The Terriers answered with six of the next 10 points to acquire a 15-14 advantage at the media break. The Catamounts flexed their muscles out of the stoppage with a 7-1 run that forced the hosts to call both timeouts and resulted in a 21-16 WCU lead. Wofford cut the deficit to three, 23-20, before a pair of WCU kills gave the Catamounts the 25-20 set one win. 

Set two started much like set one with the score tied eight times before a 5-2 WCU run gave the Catamounts a 13-10 lead, forcing a Terriers timeout. Wofford quickly seized control of the set out of the timeout with a 13-4 run that pushed the Terriers in front and ultimately allowed the hosts to take the second set 25-19 and even the match at a set apiece. 

WCU (10-18) jumped on the Terriers out of the gates in the third set with a 9-2 run to force an early Wofford timeout. The Terriers pushed three quick points across before the Catamounts stretched the lead to 11, 17-6 on the heels of an 8-1 burst. Wofford managed consecutive points before the Catamounts closed the set on an 8-3 run to dominate the set 25-11. 

The Terriers gained the early advantage in the fourth set with a 9-5 lead. WCU battled back and cut the deficit to two, 14-12, at the set's midpoint. Wofford stretched the advantage back out with a 5-1 spurt that made it 19-13 and forced a Catamount timeout. WCU then impressively fought back with an 11-4 run that forced the Terriers to fight off match point at the score 24-23. Wofford scored four of the set's final five points to claim it by the score of 27-25 and force the fifth.

Wofford (21-7) came out of the gates fast in the fifth set with a 7-2 burst to gain the early edge. But the Catamounts again fought back with a 6-1 run that evened the score at 8 apiece. The two teams stayed tight in the closing stages of the set with the Terriers managing to score seven of the final 11 points to claim the match and advance to Saturday's semifinal match against seventh-seeded Chattanooga. 
 

 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).