CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball returns to the court to continue its season-long 14-match swing this weekend, beginning on Friday at the Pirate Invitational in Greenville, hosted by East Carolina at Williams Arena inside Minges Coliseum.
 
WCU begins the weekend with a doubleheader on Friday starting at 11 a.m. against Texas A&M-Commerce before closing out the afternoon at 4 p.m. battling N.C. A&T. The weekend finale is slated for 3 p.m. on Saturday against the host Pirates and will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required). Live stats for all three matches will be available on CatamountSports.com.
 
Match One: Western Carolina (0-3) vs Texas A&M-Commerce (2-1)
Date: Friday, Sept. 6
Time: 11 a.m.
Site: Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (Greenville, N.C.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB
 
Match Two: Western Carolina vs N.C. A&T (2-0)
Date: Friday, Sept. 6
Time: 4 p.m.
Site: Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (Greenville, N.C.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB
 
Match Three: Western Carolina at East Carolina (3-0)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 7
Time: 3 p.m.
Site: Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (Greenville, N.C.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Live Video: ESPN+
Twitter: @CatamountVB
 
Back to Serve:
The Catamounts began the 2024 season suffering defeats in all three matches as part of the Carolina Classic hosted by the University of North Carolina inside historic Carmichael Arena.
 
Over the three days, WCU was led by junior Ali Morris, who totaled 30 kills and 37 digs, and the Knoxville, Tenn. native posted a pair of double-doubles. She was flanked on the offensive side of the stat sheet by senior Bailey Hartsough, who finished with 29 kills and a squad-best 41 digs. She opened 2024 with a double-double against former SoCon foe College of Charleston.
 
Senior Sarah Janourova filled the stat sheet once again in the assist column with a team-high 66 helpers along with 19 digs as she joined Hartsough and Morris with double-doubles in the season opener, adding 23 assists and ten digs. Sophomore Logan Carr led the Catamounts on the defensive side, totaling 11 blocks as she recorded 16 kills in the three matches, while junior Janelle Blue had nine blocks and nine kills for WCU.

After the ECU weekend tournament, WCU battles a third UNC system school in mountain-rival UNC Asheville. The second half of the nonconference slate begins with a trip to Buies Creek to battle Campbell before closing out pre-SoCon play at Georgia Southern. The Catamounts open SoCon play with a road bout at The Citadel before returning to Cullowhee for the first time in regular-season play on Sept. 27 vs Mercer.
 
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Senior Sarah Janourova (1,695 ast, 773 digs, 78 aces):
The Prague, Czech Republic native continues the 2024 campaign needing just 305 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 227 of those to surpass that mark ... Janourova also needs just 22 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 (866 kills, 794 digs, 82 aces):
Hartsough opens her final season in Cullowhee looking to eclipse numerous milestones as she needs just 163 kills to become the 16th Catamount in program history to surpass 1,000 career kills ... She would become the first student-athlete for WCU to eclipse 1,000 kills since Merry Gebel (2018-22) moved all the way up to the No. 2 spot in career kills with 1,693 ... A product of LaGrange, Ind., Hartsough enters 2024 with 753 career digs, needing just 247 to climb to the 1,000 dig mark for WCU ... Hartsough needs 20 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.
 
SCOUTING THE FIELD:
Texas A&M-Commerce (2-1 in 2024) (9-23, 5-13 SLC in 2023) – RPI 304 in 2023
Friday's opening match comes in the form of Southland Conference opponent Texas A&M-Commerce, who meets Western Carolina for the first time in program history that the Lions and Catamounts have met on the volleyball court. The matchup with Texas A&M-Commerce marks the first time that WCU had faced a Southland opponent since 2019 when WCU locked horns with Lamar, and it's the fourth overall opponent for WCU to face from the league, joining New Orleans (2017) and Nicholls State (1992).
 
Texas A&M-Commerce enters the weekend off of a 2-1 opening weekend that saw the Lions down Central Arkansas in five sets and Tarleton in four sets while dropping a four-set decision to Little Rock. The Lions finished 2023 at 9-23, including a 5-13 mark in the Southland.
 
The Lions were led in opening matches by sophomore Kitana Tuufuli on the offensive end of the court as Tuufuli totaled 36 kills. At the same time, Reese Fetty tallied 33 for Texas A&M-Commerce in its 2-1 opening weekend. The Lions sophomores of Ellie Baumert tallied 61 assists as Savannah Jennings totaled 52 helpers in their first three matches. The reigning Southland Defensive Player of the Week was senior Jade Smith finished the first weekend with a league-best 6.08 digs per set, totaling a league-high 79 digs. Senior Carley Spachman finished with a team-best 17 blocks, ranking second in the league with 1.31 blocks per set ranked second in the league.
 
The Cougars are picked 10th in the Southland Conference (SLC) preseason poll under the direction of second-year head coach Joe Morales.
 
N.C. A&T (2-0 in 2024) (8-18, 6-12 CAA in 2023) – RPI 283
Friday's busy day of action concludes with a bout against N.C. A&T from Greenville as the Catamounts and Aggies meet for the 11th time in program history. This weekend's action marks the first neutral site action for WCU against N.C. A&T since 2019 when the Catamounts downed the Aggies in five sets.
 
The Aggies grabbed a pair of wins over the opening weekend against N.C. Central, downing the Eagles in straight sets for both matches to improve to 2-0 on the young season. N.C. A&T looks to rebound from an 8-18 mark in 2023, including a 6-12 record in league play.
 
N.C. A&T was led offensively in those two sweeps by freshman Tyne Ross, who totaled 29 kills and garnered CAA Rookie of the Week. At the same time, senior Hannah Howell and sophomore Mikala Sampson tallied 14 and 11 kills, respectively. Sophomore Leonor Polezzi led the Aggies with 58 assists as she did tally a double-double in one of the two wins. On the defensive side, Valerie Estrada led a balanced defensive attack with 23 digs as one of four players to eclipse ten digs in the two victories. Senior Maya Johnson led the way on the block with eight rejections.
 
Western Carolina has grabbed each of the prior 12 matchups from N.C. A&T, with the most recent taking place in Wilmington when WCU earned the five-set win during the 2019 season. Abigail Veit led the Catamounts in the win with 20 kills and 12 digs, while Merry Gebel totaled 14 kills and seven digs. Hannah Price added 48 assists, 14 digs, and five kills in the win. The Aggies were picked 11th in the CAA Preseason Poll under the direction of 14th-year head coach Hal Clifton.
 
East Carolina (3-0 in 2024) (21-11, 11-8 AAC in 2023) – RPI 115
Western Carolina closes out the second weekend of nonconference play, similar to the opening weekend, as the Catamounts battle another North Carolina directional foe in tournament host East Carolina.
 
East Carolina posted a perfect 3-0 mark on opening weekend with a straight-set win over Queens and four-set triumphs over UNCW and Loyola University of Maryland. ECU looks to continue the momentum from the 2023 season that saw the Pirates win 21 matches and advance to the second round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) before falling to Georgia Southern after defeating SoCon foe The Citadel.
 
ECU was led through the opening three matches by reigning first-team All-AAC selection and preseason all-conference pick Angeles Alderete, who totaled 29 kills and a pair of double-doubles for the Pirates as she had 37 digs on the defensive end of the court. Ellie Pate added 26 kills as Carlia Northcross and Fran McBride each had 22 kills for the Pirates in their three wins. Payton Evenstad led the attack with 60 assists, and Mackenzie Jefferson had 56 helpers. Lara Uyar had a team-best 40 digs as Northcross posted a team-high ten blocks.
 
WCU holds a 5-1 lead in the all-time head-to-head matchups with the Catamounts in a series that dates back to 1983. The Catamounts claimed the most recent matchup from the Pirates in a four-set win during the 2015 season. ECU was picked fourth in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) preseason poll led by Adler Augustin, who's in his fifth year at the helm in Greenville. The league's preseason player of the year was picked to be Angeles Alderete, who was one of four in the league to garner unanimous selection for the all-conference team.
 
Following Saturday's finale with East Carolina, the Catamounts make the short drive down I-26 for a mountain rivalry matchup against UNC Asheville on Tuesday, Sept. 10, with first serve set for 4:30 p.m. from Asheville. The matchup with the Bulldogs will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), and live stats will be available on CatamountSports.com.
 
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