FORT WORTH, TEXAS – Western Carolina volleyball opened its final weekend before Southern Conference play at the Fight in the Fort with a 3-0 defeat to Hawaii on Friday afternoon at Schollmaier Arena on the campus of host TCU. Hawaii won by the scores of 25-15, 25-18, and 25-19.
WCU drops to 3-7 as Hawaii improves to 6-4 on the season.
Bailey Hartsough tallied a team-high seven kills to go along with nine digs and two aces. Ali Morris finished with five kills, four assists and a team-high 12 digs on Friday. Sarah Janourova posted 16 assists and added seven digs for WCU, while Eden Punch and Logan Carr both tallied a team-high three blocks.
Amber Igiede led all players in Friday's match with 21 kills accompanied by seven blocks and four digs. Two posted double-doubles as Kendra Ham finished with 12 kills and 11 digs while Caylen Alexander added 11 kills and 16 digs for the Rainbow Wahine. Kate Lang led Hawaii with 40 assists and added seven digs along with four blocks. Talia Edmonds matched a team-high with 16 digs.
Hawaii started quickly in the opening set with a 10-3 burst to take the early advantage and force a Catamounts timeout. WCU responded with an 8-2 run to cut the Rainbow Wahine lead down to 2. However, Hawaii was able to stretch the lead back to five, 18-13 before the Rainbow Wahine closed scoring seven of the final nine points to grab set one 25-15.
The two squads went back and forth at the start of the second set with five ties before a quick three points for the Rainbow Wahine gave Hawaii a 12-9 edge and forced an early timeout from WCU. The Catamounts responded out of the stoppage with four of the next six points to make it a one-point set at 14-13. Hawaii pushed back with five of the next six points to extend the lead and force a second Western Carolina timeout. The two teams continued to see-saw on the scoreboard before the Rainbow Wahine claimed set two by the score of 25-18.
The third set started similarly to the previous two as the teams remained close in the early going with four ties before an 8-4 run allowed the Rainbow Wahine to create a little separation at 12-8. WCU cut the deficit to one on the heels of a 5-2 spurt. The set remained tight with WCU evening it up at 17 before Hawaii closed on an 8-2 run to claim the set and the match.
The Catamounts conclude nonconference play on Saturday battling the host on Saturday night at 7 p.m. EST from Fort Worth, Texas. The match with the Horned Frogs is set to be shown on BIG 12 Now through ESPN+ (paid subscription required) and have live stats provided online at CatamountSports.com.
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