ATHENS, GA. – Western Carolina volleyball opened it's 2023 season on Friday falling in straight sets to ACC-foe Florida State in the first match of the Classic City Clash inside the Ramsey Student Center on the campus of tournament host, the University of Georgia.
Ali Morris led the Catamount offense with eight kills as Livi Weidmann and Bailey Hartsough added six kills in the match. Sarah Janourova paced the Catamounts with 13 assists and Katie Boney added 10 helpers in her collegiate debut.
Kiari Robey led Florida State with eight kills, while Kenna Phelan added 20 assists and Andejelij Draskovic finished with 14 assists. Koening totaled a match-high 13 digs in the contest.
Boney along with Logan Carr, and Eda Yalçinkaya each made their collegiate debuts on Friday for WCU.
The Seminoles and Catamounts traded points early in set one on Friday before a 7-1 spurt from Florida State made it 10-4 forcing an early WCU timeout. The Catamounts were able to cut the deficit to four, 12-8 out of the timeout before an 8-4 burst from FSU gave them the 20-12 lead. FSU took the early lead by winning set one, 25-14.
Florida State carried the momentum from the end of set one into the second set building an 11-2 advantage out of the gates as the Seminoles claimed the second set by the score of 25-9.
In the third set, FSU jumped out to a fast start leading 6-2 before WCU scored four of the next five points including kills by Morris and Hartsough to cut the deficit to one. The Seminoles scored eight of the next ten points in the match, though, to push it to a 15-8 lead at the media timeout in the final set. WCU was able to post bursts down the stretch with FSU answering each to claim the set three victory and the match on Friday afternoon.
The Catamounts continue play at the Classic City Clash tomorrow, facing the host Bulldogs at 10:30 a.m. before concluding the tournament with UConn at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both matches will have live stats with the Georgia match being streamed on SEC Network Plus (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, @catamountvb), and Twitter (@catamounts, @catamountvb).
