CULLOWHEE, N.C. – After last weekend's scheduled home opener was postponed, Western Carolina volleyball returns to the road to cap off what is now a 15-match road swing to begin the 2024 campaign by heading to Birmingham to battle Samford on Friday, Oct. 4, at 7:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. CT.
Friday's match will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
WCU's matchup with Furman in Greenville, S.C. originally slated for the next night has been postponed due to the effects of Hurricane Helene.
MATCHUP: Western Carolina (7-7, 1-0 SoCon) at Samford (7-5, 1-1 SoCon)
Date: Friday, Oct. 4
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. CT
Site: Pete Hanna Center (Birmingham, Ala.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Live Video: ESPN+
Twitter: @CatamountVB
Back to Serve:
After Hurricane Helene's impact throughout the western part of North Carolina postponed WCU's league opener, the Catamounts continue their road warrior status with a trip to Birmingham, Ala., Friday. The Catamounts battle Samford on their now season-long 15-game road swing.
Western Carolina kicked off league play with a bang last Wednesday night, outlasting The Citadel in Charleston for a thrilling five-set marathon win over the Bulldogs. The road win marked the sixth straight season that the Catamounts have won their SoCon opener in the longest match for WCU since last September when WCU went two hours and 36 minutes in a five-set home match with chromatic rival Furman.
Junior Ali Morris led three Catamounts with double-digit kills, posting a career-high 25 in the win at The Citadel. Morris complimented her career day offensively with a career-high 26 digs to lead WCU as she grabbed her seventh double-double of the season. She's the first Catamount to eclipse 25 kills in a match since Merry Gebel finished with 27 kills in a road match against Alabama back in 2021 and ranks her tied for 15th overall in WCU's single-match record book. Morris's performance at The Citadel netted the Knoxville, Tenn. native SoCon Player of the Week honors this past Monday from the league office.
Senior Bailey Hartsough finished with 18 kills in the winning effort, eclipsing the 1,000 career kill mark while setting a new career-best with 27 digs to secure her eighth seasonal double-double. The LaGrange, Ind., native also added five assists and a pair of aces to a fully loaded stat line. Sophomore Logan Carr rounded out WCU's trio of double-digit kills with a career-high 13 on a .417 attack percentage, marking five of the last six matches that she's hit over .400, with WCU winning each of those games.
Western Carolina enters Friday's action with Samford among the league leaders in blocks, averaging 2.58 rejections per set thus far in 2024. The Purple & Gold are led by junior Janelle Blue who has totaled a conference-high 68 blocks and leads the league with 1.36 blocks per set. Junior Samantha Jo Mikosky sits third in the league with 54 blocks and is second in the SoCon with 1.26 blocks per set. Sophomore Logan Carr is tied for eighth overall with 45 stops. Junior Ali Morris has 22 blocks, senior Bailey Hartsough has 16 stops, and sophomore Zoe Zudans has 15 blocks as the team ranks among the top teams nationally with 133.5 total blocks.
As a team, WCU has posted six or more blocks in all 14 matches to begin the season including a high mark of 17 in a five-set win last weekend over American. The Catamounts have eclipsed 11 blocks thrice in 2024 including twice in tournament play at Campbell.
Adding to the Catamount defense, the squad has also been strong in digs through the opening 14 matches totaling 893 digs, third in the SoCon while averaging 17.51 digs per set that ranks third in the league and top 10 nationally. Hartsough is fifth in the league with 206 digs and is seventh with 4.04 digs per set. She's joined in triple digits by sophomore Eda Yalcinkaya and Morris each have 177 digs and Janourova has 141 digs to round out the quartet.
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Senior Sarah Janourova (1,941 assists, 895 digs, 87 aces):
The Prague, Czech Republic native enters the week needing just 59 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 totaled 2,324 assists in her time at WCU ... Janourova finished 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 105 of those to surpass that mark ... Janourova also needs just 13 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 (1,003 kills, 959 digs, 97 aces):
Hartsough became the 16th Catamount in program history to surpass 1,000 career kills with her 18 kills on Wednesday night 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 959 career digs, needing just 41 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.
Samford (7-5, 1-1 SoCon in 2024) – (16-12, 12-4 in SoCon in 2023) – RPI 159 in 2023
Samford comes into Friday's action with wins in each of the last four head-to-head meetings with the Catamounts including a tight five-set defeat in Cullowhee last November. WCU looks for tides to turn in Birmingham as the Bulldogs hold a 17-3 lead in games at Samford including wins in the last 11 matches.
Samford is 7-5 on the year after splitting the opening weekend of SoCon play, falling in straight sets at Wofford before a five-set victory at Chattanooga. The Bulldogs had a strong nonconference slate including matchups with SEC foes Mississippi State, LSU, and Auburn. Samford won the battle of the Bulldogs when it defeated Mississippi State to open the 2024 season as part of a 5-0 start before falling to LSU.
The Bulldogs finished 2023 with a 16-15 record including a 9-7 SoCon mark as Samford advanced to the finals of the SoCon tournament before falling to Wofford.
Samford has been led on the offensive end of the court by redshirt sophomore Kaleigh Meritt who has totaled 170 kills including three matches of 20-plus kills and five double-doubles. Senior Gracie Lynn Butler has 139 kills and six double-doubles and sophomore Ally Cordes rounds out the trio of 100-plus kills with 115 and five double-doubles. Sophomore Lexi Thatcher has a team-high 505 assists with seven matches of 40+ assists including 67 helpers last week against Chattanooga.
On defense, Morgan leads a quarter of Bulldogs over 100 digs with 182 as Meritt has 125 followed by Butler at 121 and Cordes at 117. Graduate student Kate Wonus leads Samford with 30 blocks followed by junior Greer Golden at 28 rejections.
The Bulldogs were tabbed second 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. Gracie Lynn Butler and Kaleigh Meritt were both honored by the league's preseason all-conference team.
Up Next for the Catamounts:
Following Friday's action in Birmingham, WCU hopes to finally play a home match in 2024 when the Catamounts welcome in-state league foe UNCG to Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center on Friday, Oct. 11 for a 6 p.m. first serve. WCU follows it up the next night with a "Hike & Spike Doubleheader" as the Catamounts welcome defending SoCon Tournament Champion Wofford for a 7 p.m. first serve after WCU football hosts The Citadel at 2:30 p.m. on Heroes Day.
Both matchups will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), and live stats will be available on CatamountSports.com.
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).
