Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball closes out the road portion of its 2024 slate beginning on Friday night with a trip to Spartanburg to battle the 2023 Southern Conference Tournament champion Wofford before heading to Greensboro to face in-state league foe UNCG the next night in the road finale. Friday's match from Spartanburg is set for 6 p.m. with Saturday's tilt scheduled for a 5 p.m. start in Greensboro.
Both matches against the Terriers and Spartans will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
MATCHUP: Western Carolina (7-17, 1-10 SoCon) at Wofford (18-6, 10-2 SoCon)
Date: Friday, Nov. 8
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium (Spartanburg, S.C.)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Live Video: ESPN+
Twitter: @CatamountVB
MATCHUP: Western Carolina at UNCG (7-17, 2-10 SoCon)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 9
Time: 5 p.m.
Site: Fleming Gymnasium (Greensboro, N.C.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Live Video: ESPN+
Twitter: @CatamountVB
Back to Serve:
Western Carolina volleyball closes out the final two road matches of the 2024 regular season beginning on Friday night in Spartanburg before a trip to Greensboro on Saturday evening. The Catamounts opened the week with a three-set home loss on Wednesday at the hands of SoCon-leading Mercer.
Junior Ali Morris led the Catamount offensive attack with 10 kills, while classmate Janelle Blue and sophomore Zoe Zudans both tallied five kills for WCU. Sophomore Katie Boney totaled a team-high 10 assists and six digs as senior Sarah Janourova dished out seven helpers. Sophomore Eda Yalçinkaya finished with a team-high 11 digs and added four assists.
Western Carolina still sits among the SoCon leaders on the defensive end, averaging 2.3 blocks per set. Blue maintains her top spot in the league with 98 total blocks, averaging 1.17 per set, which also paces the SoCon. Sophomore Logan Carr sits in a tie for seventh in the league and second on the team with 70 blocks. Junior Samantha Jo Mikosky checks into the weekend with 65 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 1,503 digs – fourth in the SoCon while averaging 17.68 digs per set to rank third in the league and amongst the national leaders. Yalcinkaya leads WCU with 323 digs, averaging 3.8 per set. She's joined in triple digits by Morris at 298 digs, followed by Hartsough (251), while Janourova and Boney have both eclipsed the 100 dig plateau from their setter position at 210 and 156, respectively.
In SoCon play, Morris ranks seventh in the league with 133 kills as she's eclipsed double-digit kills eight times including six straight matches. Boney leads WCU in the assist column with 223 to rank ninth in conference play after 51 assists and 15 digs last week against Furman.
Last Time We Met – Wofford 3, Western Carolina 0 RECAP
Western Carolina volleyball closed out its first home weekend of the season on the wrong end of a tight, straight-set defeat at the hands of the defending SoCon Tournament champion Wofford.
Logan Carr finished with a team-high 10 kills to accompany four blocks on the defensive end in helping pace the Catamounts. Bailey Hartsough totaled nine kills and 10 digs, followed closely by Ali with a team-high 15 digs and seven kills. Sarah Janourova added 17 assists and Katie Boney handed out 14 helpers with 12 digs.
On the defensive side of the court, junior Janelle Blue tallied a match-high nine blocks including three solo stuffs with four kills, while classmate Samantha Jo Mikosky finished with five blocks, four digs, and three kills.
Last Time We Met – UNCG 3, Western Carolina 1 RECAP
UNC Greensboro spoiled Western Carolina's much-anticipated home opener with a 3-1 win in Southern Conference action.
Bailey Hartsough paced the Catamounts in double-double fashion with 17 kills and 19 digs and Ali Morris matched Hartsough with 19 digs to accompany 11 kills for the double-dip. Katie Boney added a team-high 25 assists and 10 digs.
Sarah Janourova dished out 23 helpers to her stat line, along with seven digs. On the defensive end of the court, Logan Carr picked up a match-high five blocks along with six kills as Hartsough added four rejections to the stat line.
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Senior Sarah Janourova (2,078 assists, 964 digs, 94 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 36 to surpass that benchmark ... Janourova also needs just six 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.
About Wofford (18-6, 10-2 SoCon in 2024) – RPI 76 in 2024
The defending tournament champion, Wofford has claimed each of the past four meetings against the Catamounts including a 3-0 sweep in Cullowhee last month. The Terriers have had control in the series in Spartanburg with a 16-7 record in head-to-head battles.
Wofford (18-6, 10-2 SoCon) looks to extend its win streak to four on Friday. Wofford has defended its home court well in 2024 with an 11-1 mark with its only blemish coming last month to SoCon leader Mercer in four sets. The Terriers also have a win earlier this season over #15 Tennessee which preceded SoCon play. The Terriers finished 2023 with a 23-8 record including an 11-5 SoCon mark as they earned the SoCon tournament title before falling to Kentucky in the NCAA tournament.
Senior Sarah MacLean has 256 kills with 16 matches with double-digit kills this season to lead Wofford, followed by classmate Mary Emily Morgan with 245 kills with eight double-doubles. Freshman Bradley Brown has 195 kills as she leads the offensive attack hitting at a .347 clip and sophomore Bri Mahoney has 182 kills for Wofford recording seven double-doubles.
Sophomore setter Taylor Pecht has a team-high 492 assists followed closely behind freshman Maddy Frazier with 448 helpers. Frazier also leads the Terriers with 26 service aces. On the defensive end, sophomore Laney Klika sits second in the SoCon with 452 digs including a SoCon-high 5.32 digs/set as the lone player in the league with five or more digs per set. Morgan has tallied 308 digs followed by Mahoney at 236 and Pecht at 220. On the blocking side, junior Annmarie Rakoski has a team-high 84 stops followed by Brown with 67 rejections.
The Terriers were tabbed fifth 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.
UNCG (8-11, 2-6 SoCon in 2024) – RPI 253 in 2024
In-state league rival UNCG serves as Western Carolina's regular-season road finale on Saturday in the Gate City. WCU looks to avenge a four-set defeat in Cullowhee last month as it snapped a four-match win streak for the Catamounts in head-to-head battles against UNCG. The two teams have been tight in matchups from Greensboro with the Purple & Gold holding a slight 15-14 edge.
UNCG (7-17) fell in three sets to The Citadel and Wofford in its last on-court action. The Spartans battle Chattanooga on Friday before welcoming WCU to Greensboro on Saturday night for their final home match. In nonconference play, UNCG earned wins over Robert Morris, USC Upstate, NCCU, Norfolk State and Georgetown.
UNCG has been led offensively by freshman Allie Sweet with a SoCon leading 373 kills along with a conference-high 4.19 kills per set – the lone player in the league averaging over four kills per match. Sweet has four matches of 20 or more kills including 27 in a four-set win over Robert Morris, reaching double figures 19 times. Graduate student Emily Hanlon sits second on the squad with 189 kills as she's reached double-digit kills eight times throughout the 2024 season. Senior Madeline Timmerman has 170 kills while her junior sister has 157 to round out the quarter of four players over 100 kills for UNCG.
Sophomore Izora Gragg leads the Spartans and is fourth in the SoCon with 830 assists as she's had 10 matches with 40 or more helpers which includes three contests she's gone over 50 assists. On defense, freshman Chloe Nussbaum leads the Spartans with 362 digs followed by Gragg tallying 183 digs. Senior Megan Carron and Sweet each have 149 digs as McKenna Timmerman has 123. Madeline Timmerman leads the Spartans with 74 blocks followed by senior America Anderson with 63 rejections.
Under the direction of second-year head coach Felicia Turner, the Spartans were picked ninth in the SoCon Preseason poll.
Up Next for the Catamounts:
Following Saturday's action from Greensboro, the Catamounts close out their 2024 home slate beginning on Thursday, Nov. 14, against ETSU before welcoming in Chattanooga the next night for Senior Night. Both matches are set for a 6 p.m. start with Western Carolina set to honor its 2024 seniors Ollie Henderson, Sarah Janourova and Bailey Hartsough for their accomplishments and contributions to the program. Both matches against the Bucs and the Mocs 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).
