CLEMSON, S.C. – Sophomore Ali Morris tallied a pair of career-highs with 20 kills and added 19 digs on the defensive end as Western Carolina volleyball claimed a five-set victory on Saturday afternoon over Green Bay in the Clemson Invitational inside Jervey Gym. WCU won by scores of 21-25, 25-20, 17-25, 25-23, 15-6.
The Catamounts improve to 1-4 on the season as Green Bay drops to 2-3 on the young 2023 season.
Morris paced the offense for the fourth time in 2023 with her career-best 20 kills and recorded her second double-double of the season adding a career-high 19 digs. Bailey Hartsough finished with 16 kills and 20 digs for her second double-double of the season. Sarah Janourova led the Catamounts with 28 assists and 13 digs for a double-double on Saturday as Katie Boney tallied 21 assists and five digs. Eden Punch, who tallied the 200th block of her Catamount career, finished with a team-high six blocks, four kills, and six digs.
Hannah Vanden Berg led all players on Saturday with 23 kills for Green Bay as she added nine digs to her stat line. Tiffany Paalman added 15 kills and hit .414 for the Phoenix. Calli Gentry added a match-high 47 assists and totaled 18 digs for Green Bay.
Green Bay started fast on Saturday using a 9-2 burst after the opening points of the match to race out to a 10-3 lead. WCU scored six of the next nine points before back-to-back tallies from the Phoenix gave Green Bay a 15-9 lead at the media break. The Phoenix scored three of the next four points out of the timeout to force a WCU timeout. The Catamounts battled back scoring five of the next six points to cut the deficit to four, 19-15 before a 4-2 spurt gave the Phoenix a 23-17 lead and forced a late WCU timeout. Green Bay withstood a late push from the Catamounts to take the opening set 25-21.
WCU answered Green Bay's first two points of set two with a 5-1 burst to take the early lead in the second set. The Phoenix used a 9-4 run of their own to make it a 12-9 score before the Catamounts cut it to a 15-13 score at the media break in the set. Western Carolina scored seven of the next nine points to grab control of the set forcing the Phoenix to use a pair of timeouts in that run for WCU. The Catamounts held onto their momentum down the stretch to take set two by the score of 25-20 and even the match at a set apiece.
The start of set three featured seven ties throughout the early going before the Phoenix used a 4-1 spurt to take a 13-10 lead and force a WCU timeout. The Catamounts quickly cut it to a two-point set before Green Bay pushed it to a 19-15 lead forcing a WCU timeout. The Phoenix used a 6-2 run down the stretch to claim set three by the score of 25-17.
The Catamounts opened the fourth set fast with a 4-1 burst that forced Green Bay to call an early timeout. The Phoenix answered with five straight points before the Catamounts answered the run with four of the next five points to take a one-point lead. Green Bay and WCU went back-and-forth before a quick 3-1 burst gave the Catamounts a 15-13 lead forcing the Phoenix to call a timeout. After a back-and-forth battle in the midpoint of set four, the Phoenix cut it to three, 22-19 forcing a WCU timeout. Green Bay continued to pressure WCU cutting it to a one-point set before the Catamounts claimed the set 25-23.
Western Carolina started fast in the fifth set with a quick 4-2 run out of the gates to force a Green Bay timeout. WCU scored six of the next seven points out of the timeout to increase it to a 10-3 lead and were able to continue to keep the pressure up to grab a 15-6 set fifth win over Green Bay on Saturday afternoon.
The tournament finale for the Catamounts is set for 11:30 a.m. on Sunday against South Alabama.
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