SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Junior Ali Morris and sophomore Katie Boney both tallied double-doubles to lead the Catamounts on Friday, but Western Carolina volleyball was unable to capitalize on an early start to its advantage, falling in four sets to Wofford at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
Morris finished with 12 kills and 11 digs for her 11th double-double of the season, while Boney finished her sixth double-double with a team-high 28 assists, 11 digs, and a pair of kills. On the defensive end, sophomore Eda Yalcinkaya led the Catamounts with 19 digs as senior Sarah Janourova tallied 13 digs.
WCU was led on the block by junior Samantha Jo Mikosky and sophomore Logan Carr with three stops apiece as junior Janelle Blue hit the seasonal century mark with a pair of rejections to reach 100 on the year.
Wofford was paced offensively by Mary Emily Morgan with 14 kills, adding 10 digs to record the double-double. Bri Mahoney had 14 kills along with 19 digs to join her teammate with the double-dip. Sarah MacLean finished the double-figure kill performers for the hosts with 11 kills and added nine digs. Taylor Pecht finished with 24 assists, followed by 22 by Maddy Frazier. Laney Klika led all players on Friday with 29 digs. Annemarie Rakoski tallied a match-high nine blocks for the Terriers.
Wofford opened the match with an early 6-3 burst that was quickly answered by the Catamounts by scoring 10 of the next 14 points to jump in front 13-10. The Terriers closed the first half of the set on a 5-1 burst to jump in front 15-14 at the opening media break. The Catamounts answered out of the media break, closing the set on an 11-3 run led by three kills from Zudans to take the opening set from the hosts 25-18.
The Terriers raced out to an early 8-3 lead in the second set, which was quickly answered by a 5-2 spurt from the Catamounts to cut the deficit to two before the hosts pushed the lead out to five, 15-10 at the media timeout. Wofford was able to keep the advantage at five to six points down the stretch before pushing it to a 25-17 set win to even the match at a set apiece.
In a critical set for both teams, the Catamounts opened on an 8-4 run to gain the early lead. The Terriers closed the first half of the set on an 11-6 scoring run that gave Wofford a 15-14 lead at the midpoint of the third set. WCU battled back on a 6-3 burst to take a two-point lead before Wofford closed with a 7-1 run to take the set 25-21.
Wofford came out fast in the fourth set on Friday night with a 10-4 run, forcing an early timeout from the Catamounts. The visitors s cut it to a five-point deficit, 12-7, which was quickly thwarted by an 8-2 burst from Wofford to take a sizeable advantage down the stretch en route to take the match in four sets with the 25-15 fourth set victory.
The Catamounts close out their road regular season slate on Saturday, Nov. 9, with a 5 p.m. first serve from the Gate City against UNCG. The matchup from Fleming Gymnasium will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), and live stats will be available for both matches online at CatamountSports.com.
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