Cullowhee, N.C. – Eighth-seeded Western Carolina volleyball begins its pursuit of the 2024 SoCon Tournament crown in Thursday's first round against ninth-seeded UNCG at 4 p.m. The winner of Thursday's match earns a spot in Friday's quarterfinal against regular-season champion Mercer set for 1:30 p.m. All matches will take place at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Wofford's campus.
All tournament matches will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
MATCHUP: #9 UNCG (7-21, 2-14 SoCon) vs #8 Western Carolina (8-20, 2-13 SoCon)
Date: Thursday, Nov. 21
Time: 4 p.m.
Site: Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium (Spartanburg, S.C.)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Live Video: ESPN+
Twitter: @CatamountVB
TICKETS
Back to Serve:
Western Carolina opens its SoCon tournament title hunt on Thursday battling UNCG as the Catamounts look to take the season series from the Spartans after the two teams split in the regular season, both winning on the road.
The Catamounts enter the tournament looking to rebound from a straight-set loss to mountain rival ETSU and a tight five-set defeat against Chattanooga on senior night last weekend in Cullowhee. In the two matches, junior Ali Morris led the offense with 28 kills and 30 digs as the Knoxville, Tenn., native posted double-doubles (11 Kills, 11 Digs vs ETSU and 17 Kills and 19 Digs against Chattanooga) to close out the regular season with a team-high 14 double-doubles. Sophomore Katie Boney led the assist column with 64 helpers as classmate Eda Yalcinkaya had a team-high 37 digs.
On the defensive end, sophomore Logan Carr had a team-high seven blocks as freshman Courtney Graham tallied six stops including her first two career solo stops as junior Janelle Blue finished off with six more rejections to run her seasonal total to 109.
Western Carolina enters tournament play ranked third in the league, averaging 2.27 blocks per set. Blue leads the Catamounts with 109 total blocks on the season which ranks in a tie for 15th in the single-season program record book as she's third in the league, averaging 1.1 per set to rank second in the conference. Carr sits in eighth place in the conference and second on the team with 82 blocks. Junior Samantha Jo Mikosky checks into the matchup with 73 stops for third-best on the team averaging just under a block per set.
Adding to the Catamount defense, the squad has also been strong along the back line with 1,784 digs – fourth in the SoCon while averaging 17.84 digs per set to rank third in the league and amongst the top 10 in the national leaders. Yalcinkaya leads WCU with 392 digs, averaging 3.96 per set. She's joined in triple digits by Morris at 358 digs, followed by Hartsough (251), while Sarah Janourova, Boney, and freshman Halley Tang have both eclipsed the 100 dig plateau from their setter position at 241 and 192, while Tang has 114 digs.
In SoCon play, Morris finished sixth in the league with 190 kills as she eclipsed double-digit kills 12 times including each of the final 10 matches of SoCon action. Boney paced WCU in the assist column with 355 helpers to finish eight in conference play.
The Catamounts embark on their 37th SoCon tournament appearance of all time on Thursday afternoon in Spartanburg. WCU holds a 22-33 record all-time in the championship and looks to tally its first win in the conference tournament since 2022 when WCU defeated Mercer in the opening round. Western Carolina had a tight five-set battle in 2023 with eventual champion Wofford before the Terriers pulled out the decision.
Last Time We Met – Western Carolina 3, UNCG 0 RECAP
Western Carolina volleyball posted its best hitting percentage in Southern Conference play at .315 as the Catamounts earned the straight-set sweep of UNCG in their regular-season road finale from Fleming Gymnasium. The victory ended a drought for the Catamounts while also avenging the Oct. 11 home loss to its instate league rival.
Junior Ali Morris led the offensive attack with a double-double with 17 kills and 19 digs to pace the squad in both. Sophomore Zoe Zudans finished with 10 kills while junior Janelle Blue added nine kills and three blocks in the win.
In the two matches with the Spartans this season, Morris led the Catamounts with 28 kills as Boney had 65 assists and Morris also led the team on the defensive end with 38 digs.
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Senior Sarah Janourova (2,118 assists, 995 digs, 95 aces): The Prague, Czech Republic native became the 11th player in program history to surpass the 2,000 helper mark last week against Chattanooga ... Janourova is the first Catamount to eclipse 2K career assists since Hannah Price (2017-20), who finished her career with 2,324 assists ... Janourova was fifth in the SoCon with 731 assists in 2023 to pace the Catamounts ... She also sits within striking distance of the 1,000 dig plateau, needing five to surpass that benchmark ... Janourova also needs just five 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 (1,046 kills, 1,004 digs, 99 aces): Hartsough became the 16th Catamount in program history to surpass 1,000 career kills with her 18 kills in the Catamounts' five-set win over The Citadel ... She is the most recent WCU student-athlete eclipse 1K 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 became the 13th player in program history to reach 1,000 digs while also eclipsing 1,000 kills doing that in last week's match at Chattanooga ... Hartsough needs just one 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.
UNCG (7-21, 2-14 SoCon in 2024) – RPI 271 in 2024
In-state league rival UNCG serves as Western Carolina's opening opponent of the 2024 SoCon Championship as the two teams split their regular-season battles this year. The Spartans enter tourney play looking to snap an eight-match skid including losses to Mercer and Samford last time out for UNCG. WCU holds a 36-28 lead in the all-time series with the Catamounts taking two of three matchups in the SoCon tournament.
UNCG has been led offensively by freshman of the year candidate Allie Sweet with a SoCon-leading 442 kills along with a conference-high 4.25 kills per set – the lone player in the league averaging over four kills per match. Sweet has six matches of 20 or more kills including a season-high 27 in a four-set win over Robert Morris, reaching double figures 22 times. Sweet is also a two-time SoCon Offensive Player of the Week award winner.
Graduate student Emily Hanlon sits second on the squad with 216 kills as she's reached double-digit kills nine times throughout the 2024 season. Senior Madeline Timmerman has 188 kills while her junior sister has 183 to round out the quarter of four players over 100 kills for UNCG.
Sophomore Izora Gragg leads the Spartans and is fifth in the SoCon with 963 assists as she's had 11 matches with 40 or more helpers which includes three contests where she's gone over 50 assists.
On defense, freshman Chloe Nussbaum leads the Spartans with 423 digs which ranks sixth in the conference followed by Gragg tallying 221 digs. Sweet begins the tournament with 197 digs followed by senior Megan Carron with 176. Madeline Timmerman leads the Spartans with 78 blocks followed by Hanlon with 68 stops and senior America Anderson with 67 rejections.
Up Next for the Catamounts:
The winner of Thursday's opening round match advances to Friday's quarterfinal action against top-seeded Mercer with first serve set for 1:30 p.m. in Spartanburg. All matches during the tournament will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required),
and live stats will be available for both matches 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).
