Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball closes out its extended three-match homestand on Wednesday with a lunchtime tilt against Southern Conference leader Mercer on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. Wednesday's match is set for first serve at Noon.
Admission to Wednesday's match — and all home matches throughout the 2024 season—is free of charge, presented by First Bank. The match against the Bears will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
Western Carolina and Mercer only met 10 days ago back on Oct. 26 in Macon, Ga., with the Bears claiming the 3-0 win on their home floor.
MATCHUP: Mercer (20-4, 10-1 SoCon) vs Western Carolina (7-16, 1-9 SoCon)
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 6
Time: 12 p.m.
Site: Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, N.C.)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Live Video: ESPN+
Twitter: @CatamountVB
Back to Serve:
Western Carolina volleyball plays its third of a three-match homestand with a contest that was previously set to serve as its home opener back in late September. WCU enters the match coming off of a three-set defeat to Samford and a tight five-set setback to Furman last time out.
Sophomore Zoe Zudans led the Purple & Gold on the offensive end last week in matchups with both the Bulldogs and Paladins, totaling 30 kills including a career-high 22 against Furman. Junior Ali Morris posted 24 kills along with 25 digs as the Knoxville, Tenn. native tallied 21 digs against the Paladins and had double-digit kills in both matches. Sophomore Katie Boney led the way in the assist column with 66 helpers as she dished out a career-high 51 assists and 15 digs against the chromatic rival.
Western Carolina still sits among the SoCon leaders on the defensive end, averaging 2.43 rejections per set. Junior Janelle Blue maintains the top spot in the league with 96 total blocks, averaging 1.19 per set, which also paces the SoCon. Sophomore Logan Carr sits ninth in the league and second on the team with 68 blocks.
Adding to the Catamount defense, the squad has also been strong along the back line with 1,465 digs – fourth in the SoCon while averaging 17.87 digs per set to rank third in the league and inside the Top 10 nationally. Eda Yalcinkaya leads WCU with 312 digs, averaging 3.91 per set. She's joined in triple digits by Morris at 295 digs, followed by Hartsough (251), while setters Janourova and Boney have both eclipsed the 100 dig plateau at 206 and 150, respectively.
Last Time We Met – Mercer 3, Western Carolina 0 RECAP
Sophomore Katie Boney dished out a career-high 30 assists to pace Western Carolina, but the Catamounts fell in straight sets to the Mercer Bears at Hawkins Arena. Junior Ali Morris and sophomore Zoe Zudans led all players with 10 kills apiece as Morris dropped in six digs and a pair of blocks. Boney added six digs and three kills to her career-high in the assists column.
On the defensive end, sophomore Eda Yalcinkaya finished with 13 digs freshman Halley Tang added seven. Freshman Peri Subat and junior Janelle Blue posted a pair of blocks along with Morris as Blue pushed her seasonal total to 91 rejections.
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Senior Sarah Janourova (2,071 assists, 960 digs, 93 aces): The Prague, Czech Republic native became the 11th player in program history to surpass the 2,000 helper mark against Chattanooga (Oct. 18) ... 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 40 to surpass that benchmark ... Janourova also needs just seven 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 (Sept. 25) ... She is the most recent WCU student-athlete 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 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.
Mercer (20-4, 10-1 SoCon in 2024) – RPI 62 in 2024
Mercer enters play on Wednesday riding a seven-match win streak to become the first 20-win team in the Southern Conference at 20-4 – a record that includes a 10-1 mark in SoCon play. The Bears most recently claimed a three-set win over Chattanooga and four-set victory over ETSU.
WCU and Mercer split their matches in 2023 with both squads winning on the road. Mercer earned a four-set win in Cullowhee, while WCU downed the Bears in five sets in Macon. The Catamounts hold a 23-15 edge in the all-time series against the Bears with WCU leading 11-4 in the head-to-head battle in Cullowhee.
Mercer has wins in seven straight matches and 10 of its last 11 in SoCon play. The Bears put together a pair of five-match win streaks in the early stages of the 2024 campaign and have only dropped back-to-back matches once thus far in losses to FAU & Illinois State.
Senior Skye Ekes has led the Bears with 334 kills to rank second in the SoCon and is one of three players in the league to eclipse 300 kills. Ekes has recorded double-digit kills 21 times this season. Classmate Gia Padilla has totaled seven double-doubles and 219 kills with senior Skyler Bumpers reaching 181 kills followed by the freshman pair of Sophia Henry and Lou Johnson at 154 and 139 respectively.
Graduate student Brooke Phillips sits third in the league pacing Mercer with 871 assists as she's eclipsed 25 helpers in every match for the Bears this season. Phillips also has a SoCon-leading 60 aces as Mercer paces the league with 205 service aces. On the defensive end, freshman MeMe Davis leads the way with 425 digs, third in the league, as Padilla has 232 and Phillips has 210, with Abbey Havrilla sits with 138. Bumpers has a team-high 70 blocks for Mercer.
The Bears were picked third 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. Skyler Bumpers was the lone Mercer representative named to the league's preseason all-conference team.
Up Next for the Catamounts:
Following Wednesday's tilt, the Catamounts hit the road for the final time in the 2024 regular season, beginning on Friday, Nov. 8, against Wofford at 6 p.m. before battling UNCG the next night in Greensboro with first serve set for 5 p.m.. Both matchups with the Terriers and Spartans 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).
