CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Following its first two home matches of the 2024 season, Western Carolina volleyball returns to the road with a trip through the Volunteer State beginning on Friday. The Catamounts travel to Chattanooga with a 6 p.m. first serve on Friday and head to Johnson City on Saturday for a 4 p.m. start against ETSU.
Both matches against the Mocs and Bucs will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
MATCHUP: Western Carolina (7-10, 1-3 SoCon) at Chattanooga (10-9, 1-4 SoCon)
Date: Friday, Oct. 18
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Maclellan Gym (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Live Video: ESPN+
Twitter: @CatamountVB
MATCHUP: Western Carolina at ETSU (10-7, 2-3 SoCon)
Date: Saturday, Oct. 19
Time: 4 p.m.
Site: Brooks Gymnasium (Johnson City, Tenn.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Live Video: ESPN+
Twitter: @CatamountVB
Tickets
Back to Serve:
After Hurricane Helene's impact forced the Catamounts' home opener to be delayed an extra two weeks, WCU finally pulled the curtain back on its home slate last time out coming out on the wrong end of a four-set defeat to UNCG before falling in straight sets to defending SoCon tournament champion Wofford on Saturday night.
Senior Bailey Hartsough led the offensive attack last weekend with 26 kills to accompany 29 digs with five blocks. Hartsough posted the double-double on Friday night against UNCG with 17 kills and 19 digs for her ninth double-double. Junior Ali Morris added 19 kills and a team-high 34 digs including her eighth double-double this year against the Spartans with 11 kills and 19 digs. Senior Sarah Janourova and sophomore Katie Boney filled the assist column with Janourova totaling 40 and Boney finishing 39 helpers along with 22 digs as the Milton, Ga. native had double-doubles in both contests.
Junior Janelle Blue continued her strong work on the defensive end posting a team-high 12 blocks including four solo stops along with 12 kills. Sophomore Logan Carr had nine blocks and 16 digs as junior Samantha Jo Mikosky finished with seven rejections.
Western Carolina enters Friday's action in the "Scenic City" atop the league in blocks, averaging 2.61 rejections per set thus far in 2024. The Purple & Gold are led by Janelle Blue who has totaled a conference-high 82 blocks and leads the league with 1.37 blocks per set. Junior Samantha Jo Mikosky sits second on the team and fifth in the league with 61 blocks, ranking third in the SoCon with 1.17 blocks per set. Logan Carr ranks seventh overall with 56 stops.
Adding to the Catamount defense, the squad has also been strong defensively in the backend through the opening 17 matches totaling 1,078 digs, fourth in the SoCon while averaging 17.67 digs per set to rank third in the league and inside the top 10 nationally. Hartsough is eighth in the league with 242 digs and is seventh with 3.97 digs per set. She's joined in triple digits by sophomore Eda Yalçinkaya with 219 digs followed by Morris at the same 219 digs and Janourova has 158 digs to round out the quartet.
In 2023 action against the Mocs, WCU was led by a trio of players eclipsing 20 kills as Bailey Hartsough had 28 kills, Livi Weidmann finished with 25 and Ali Morris had 23. Returners Morris (19 K, 15 D) and Hartsough (14 K, 18 D) both had double-doubles in a four-set win in Chattanooga. Sarah Janourova put together a pair of solid showings in 2023 against UTC with 43 assists and 22 digs in the road triumph and 34 assists and 12 digs in the home victory.
Hartsough put together a pair of strong offensive outings against ETSU in 2023 as she had 16 kills in the home win and a career-high 24 kills and 11 digs in a defeat to the Bucs in Johnson City. Morris added a pair of double-doubles with 13 kills and 10 digs at home and 10 kills, 19 digs on the road against ETSU last season. Janourova continued her strong work in the assist column with 30 and 41 assists in the two respective matches tallying 17 digs at home in the five-set win over ETSU.
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Senior Sarah Janourova (1,991 assists, 912 digs, 90 aces):
The Prague, Czech Republic native enters the week needing just nine assists to become the 11th player in program history to surpass the 2,000 helper mark ... Janourova is looking to become the first Catamount to eclipse 2,000 career assists since Hannah Price (2017-20) who finished with 2,324 assists at WCU ... Janourova closed 2023 fifth in the SoCon with 731 assists to pace the Catamounts ... She also sits within striking distance of the 1,000 dig plateau needing 88 of those to surpass that mark ... Janourova also needs just 10 service aces to eclipse 100 for her career as she looks to become the 16th WCU student-athlete to reach that mark – chasing that benchmark along with classmate Bailey Hartsough.
Senior Bailey Hartsough (1,036 kills, 995 digs, 97 aces):
Hartsough became the 16th Catamount in program history to surpass 1,000 career kills with her 18 kills back on Sept. 25 in the Catamounts' five-set win over The Citadel ... She is the most recent student-athlete for WCU to eclipse 1,000 kills since Merry Gebel (2018-22) who finished in the No. 2 spot in career kills with 1,693 ... A product of LaGrange, Ind., Hartsough currently sits with 995 career digs, needing just five to climb to the 1,000 dig mark for WCU ... Hartsough needs three service aces to eclipse 100 for her career looking to become the 16th student-athlete in Catamount volleyball history to reach that mark – chasing that benchmark along with classmate Janourova.
Chattanooga (10-9, 1-4 SoCon in 2024) – (19-14, 6-10 in SoCon in 2023) – RPI 264 in 2024
Western Carolina looks to continue its winning ways against Chattanooga on Friday after winning both matches head-to-head with UTC in 2023 including a straight-set decision in Cullowhee. WCU has had success with the Mocs in recent history winning 10 of the past 12 matches.
Chattanooga begins the week with a 10-9 record and faces in-state rival ETSU on Thursday before welcoming in WCU. The Mocs are 1-4 in SoCon play claiming a win in four sets over UNCG last time out. UTC has also squared off with Wofford, Samford, Mercer, and The Citadel with three of those four matches going the distance. After falling in their opening match, UTC rattled off a six-match win streak to jumpstart its 2024 season. Chattanooga totaled a 19-14 record in 2023, 6-10 in league play, and fell in the second round of the SoCon tournament to eventual champion Wofford.
Senior Chard'e Vanzandt leads the Mocs with 235 kills to rank third in the SoCon, posting 27 kills against The Citadel last week. Vanzandt recently claimed SoCon Offensive Player of the Week for her efforts last week. Junior Sydney Jackwin ranks fourth in the SoCon with 230 kills, posting 14 matches in double-digits. Sophomore Breanah Rives sits with 160 kills as the UTC trio has pushed the Mocs to the lead in the SoCon with 997 kills thus far.
A three-time SoCon Setter of the Week, senior Elaine Redman begins the weekend ranked second nationally in assists with 785 helpers tallying 10 matches with 40 or more assists. Redman is also second in the league averaging 10.19 assists per set. On the defensive side of the court, senior Paige Gallentine ranks fourth nationally in digs with 277 and is second in the league with 4.9 digs per set. Gallentine also leads the squad with 24 service aces good enough third best in the league. Freshman Kynli Kirkendoll leads the Mocs with 55 blocks.
The Mocs were tabbed seventh in the SoCon Preseason Poll as they are led by third-year head coach and Director of Volleyball Julie Torbett, who spent 17 seasons at mountain-rival UNC Asheville. Gallentine was tabbed as the league's top libero on the 2024 Preseason All-Conference Team.
ETSU (10-7, 2-3 SoCon in 2024) – (6-23, 5-11 in SoCon in 2023) – RPI 159 in 2024
WCU's Tennessee swing wraps up on Saturday with a trip to Johnson City to battle ETSU. The two teams split their 2023 action with WCU winning in five in Cullowhee and the Bucs taking the four-set win in Johnson City. The head-to-head battle has been split over the past eight matchups as both teams have claimed four wins with both squads earning a three-match win streak.
ETSU sits with a 10-7 record overall and a 2-3 mark in SoCon play as the Bucs travel to Chattanooga on Thursday before welcoming in WCU on Saturday afternoon. ETSU holds a five-set win over The Citadel and a four-set triumph over UNCG in the early stages of league action. The Bucs had a strong nonconference totaling an 8-4 record which included a Power Four conference win over West Virginia that started a four-match win streak to close out pre-SoCon play. ETSU went 6-23 during the 2023 campaign and held a 5-11 league mark before falling to top-seed The Citadel in the SoCon quarterfinals.
Senior Amanda Lowe leads the Bucs on the offensive side of the court totaling a team-high 191 kills including 10 matches in double figures. Junior Brianna Cantrell and graduate student Jenna Forster have both eclipsed 100 kills with Cantrell at 143 totaling seven double-digit kill performances while Forster has 125 kills and five double-figure kill outings.
Graduate student Reese Rhodes sits among the top in the assist column in the conference with 567 helpers coming in fifth in the league and she's also tied for sixth in the SoCon with a team-high 22 service aces. On the defensive end, sophomore Melanie Morris leads ETSU with 227 digs followed by Cantrell at 146 and Rhodes at 124. Senior Abbey Thomas sits second in the SoCon with 67 blocks as junior Whitley Rammel is ranks in a tie for fifth with 60 rejections.
The Bucs were tabbed sixth in the SoCon Preseason Poll, one of five schools that received at least one first-place vote and one of six schools overall to be tabbed for first-place honors within the league as they are led by Lindsay Devine who's in her 17th season in Johnson City beginning her second stint with the Bucs this season after 16 years that began in the 2003 season. Right side Jenna Forster was selected to the league's eight-player all-conference team.
Up Next for the Catamounts:
Following Saturday's action from Johnson City, the Catamounts start the second half of SoCon play beginning with a home match against The Citadel on Thursday at 6 p.m. for their annual "Dig Pink" match. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the match in a show of support and awareness for breast cancer.
WCU follows with a road trip to Macon, Ga., to battle Mercer for the first time in 2024 for the first time in the 2024 season after the home meeting with the Bears was postponed due to Hurricane Helene. Both matches will have live stats available on CatamountSports.com with the match against the Bulldogs being shown on ESPN+ (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).
