Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball closed out a season-long four-match homestand on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat to Samford on Friday night on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. Samford won the match 25-20, 25-20, 25-20 to claim Friday's decision.
Sophomore Courtney Graham led the Catamount offensive attack with 10 kills and an impressive .563 hitting percentage, while also adding a team-high five blocks, including a pair of solo stops. Freshman Tatum Sharp added six kills, followed by senior Janelle Blue with five for WCU. Junior Katie Boney led the Catamounts with 29 assists, adding three blocks to her stat line. On the defensive side of the court, junior Eda Yalçinkaya led the Catamounts with 17 digs.
Ally Cordes led all players in Friday's action with 16 kills and picked up the double-double with 14 digs for the Bulldogs. Kaleigh Meritt added 11 kills for Samford along with nine digs and a pair of blocks on the defensive end. Sydney Waller had nine kills. Shea Bruntmyer led Samford with 20 assists as Tatelyn Brandsma picked up 14 helpers for the Bulldogs. Following Cordes' 14 digs on Friday, Amelia Johnston picked up 11 digs for the defensive stat line.
After both teams used a pair of 5-2 runs to open the match, the squads went back-and-forth before an 8-2 run from the Bulldogs allowed the guests to seize control at 19-15 in the opening set. The Catamounts battled back to cut it to a three-point deficit before a 3-1 burst gave Samford the 25-20 opening set win.
Samford rode that momentum into the second set with a 10-4 start to take early control of the set before the Catamounts battled back. WCU put together a 6-2 spurt to slice the deficit to 12-10 at the midpoint of the stanza. After the Bulldogs pushed the advantage back out to four, WCU quickly evened it up with four straight points before the guests used a 7-3 burst to stretch the lead to 21-17. WCU was unable to get it closer than four as Samford finished off a second-straight 25-20 win in the second set.
In a must-win set, the Catamounts raced out to the early 5-1 advantage in the third, but were met by a 12-4 spurt from the Bulldogs to take a 13-9 lead. WCU battled back with a 6-1 run to take a 15-14 lead before being met by an 11-5 run down the stretch from Samford to grab the match in straight sets.
Western Carolina (6-11, 2-4 SoCon) hits the road for the first time in three weeks with a trip to Mercer on Friday, Oct. 17, before making the trip to Greenville to battle Furman the following afternoon. Friday's match is slated for a 6 p.m. first serve in Macon before a 4 p.m. start against the Paladins.
Saturday's tilt with Furman is scheduled for ESPN+ (a paid subscription is required), and both contests will feature live stats available 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).
