Cullowhee, N.C. – Following a season-long four-match homestand, Western Carolina volleyball hits the road for the first time in October, traveling to Mercer on Friday evening before trekking to Greenville, S.C., to battle chromatic rival Furman on Saturday.
WCU begins the weekend at 6 p.m. on Friday against Mercer, followed by a matchup against the Paladins the following afternoon, starting at 4 p.m.. Saturday's matchup with Furman will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live statistics available for both matches online via a link at CatamountSports.com.
MATCH #1 PREVIEW: Western Carolina (6-11, 2-4 SoCon) at Mercer (5-14, 1-5 SoCon)
Date: Friday, Oct. 17, 2025
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Hawkins Arena (Macon, Ga.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB
MATCH #2 PREVIEW: Western Carolina at Furman (13-5, 4-2 SoCon)
Date: Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025
Time: 4 p.m.
Site: Alley Gymnasium (Greenville, S.C.)
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB
From the Service Line:
Western Carolina dropped a five-set decision to Chattanooga before falling in straight sets to Samford on Friday night in SoCon play in its last two matches.
Sophomore Courtney Graham and senior Janelle Blue led the offensive attack, both with 25 kills. Blue recorded a career-high 20 against Chattanooga, while Graham reached a career-best 15 in the same match. Freshman standout Tatum Sharp added 21 kills, while junior Zoe Zudans tallied 17, and Samantha Kranzler finished with 14. Four-time SoCon Setter of the Week in junior Katie Boney had 93 helpers over eight sets for an 11.63 per set average, along with 19 digs and a pair of aces for WCU, collecting her team-best seventh double-double on Thursday against UTC.
Junior Eda Yalçinkaya led the way with 29 digs, while Kranzler added 22 digs to the squad's defensive stat line, followed by 19 apiece from sophomore Halley Tang and Boney, while freshman Elise Gurley totaled 16. Graham led the Catamounts on the block with eight stops, followed by five from Blue and four from Boney.
On the season, Zudans continues to pace the Catamount offense with 189 kills (t-7th SoCon) and is eighth in kills per set at 3.15. Boney continues to maintain her stranglehold on the top spot in assists in the league with 654 assists, the lone player in the SoCon with more than 600 helpers, while also holding the top spot in assists per set at 10.55. Graham enters the weekend third in blocks with 72 stops, one of three in the league to eclipse 70 rejections, and is third in blocks per set at 1.16. Yalçinkaya begins the weekend sixth in the league with 249 digs as one of six players with at least four digs per set at 4.02.
As a team, WCU enters Friday third in the league in kills per set (12.65) and second in assists per set (11.98). In conference play, WCU is fourth in kills (294), second in kills per set (13.36), fourth in assists (283), and third in digs (357).
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Junior Katie Boney (1,479 Assists): The Brookhaven, Ga., native has handed out 22 or more assists in 17 straight matches, including a career-high with 64 helpers last Thursday against Chattanooga. Boney has also eclipsed 30 helpers in 11 matches with seven double-doubles on the year. She became the 17th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000 career assists mark during a thrilling five-set reverse sweep of Bradley (Sept. 6). With her 58 assists against UNCG, Boney moved past Judy Green (1982-83) for 15th in program history for career assists as the Brookhaven, Ga. native now has 1,479 and a conference-high 654 on the season.
Junior Eda Yalçinkaya (977 Digs): WCU's third-year libero has a team-high 249 digs, ranking her sixth in the SoCon. She enters the weekend in Macon and Greenville needing just 23 digs to reach the 1,000-dig plateau for her career. She came off her sophomore season, where she totaled 404 digs to lead the squad and ranks fifth among returners for WCU on the defensive end of the court.
About Mercer (5-14, 1-5 in the SoCon in 2025 – 26-7, 14-2 SoCon in 2024) – 2025 RPI 269
Mercer enters Friday's play coming off a straight-set defeat to preseason favorite Wofford and a four-set road setback to UNCG last time out. The Bears' lone SoCon win, which preceded those two defeats, came in taking out The Citadel in straight sets.
WCU looks to snap a two-match slide against the Bears, as Mercer earned a pair of straight-set wins over the Catamounts a season ago and has won three out of the last four matches in the head-to-head series. Friday's matchup will break a 7-7 tie in matches contested in Macon.
Six common opponents exist between WCU and Mercer: College of Charleston, ETSU, Chattanooga, The Citadel, Wofford, and UNCG. Both squads earned wins over the Bulldogs, and WCU secured a victory over UNCG. Mercer finished 2024 with a 26-7 record, including a 14-2 mark in league play. They earned the regular season title before falling in the finals to tournament champion Wofford. Mercer participated in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) but lost in the opening round to UConn.
Sophomore Sophia Henry, a preseason All-SoCon selection, leads the Bears offensively with a team-best 189 kills, tied with WCU's Zudans for seventh in the SoCon. Henry has eclipsed double figures in kills 11 times, including eight straight matches entering play on Friday. Freshman Charlotte Thompson has 134 kills, followed by junior Avery Wilks with 110 kills for Mercer.
Sophomore Sammi Bergjans leads the Bears with 297 assists, with three double-doubles. Senior Jessica Dunn likewise has a trio of double-doubles and 235 helpers in 2025.
On the defensive end, sophomore Aubri Martin ranks third in the league with 301 digs, surpassing 20 digs five times, and has had double-digit digs in all but four matches this season. Bergjans has 120 digs, followed by Dunn with 105 digs, thus far in 2025. Sophomore Joselynn Sanjurjo leads the block for Mercer with 53 stops, followed closely by Wilks with 52 rejections.
The Bears were picked eighth in the SoCon Preseason Coaches' Poll, led by Steve Benson in his first season at the helm in Macon. Benson most recently spent two years at the helm with Presbyterian, but also has led the men's volleyball program at Limestone before his time at PC.
About Furman (13-5, 4-2 in SoCon in 2025 – 13-14, 7-8 in SoCon in 2024) – 2025 RPI 173
Furman begins the weekend with a home tilt on Friday against Chattanooga before welcoming in WCU to Greenville to close out the first half of SoCon play for both squads. The Paladins look to right the ship after back-to-back losses to ETSU and Wofford snapped a six-match win streak, including their first four in SoCon play.
The Paladins maintain control of the all-time series, with Furman holding a 50-38 advantage in the head-to-head battles, including wins in each of the last four matches. Furman has a 26-15 edge in all-time meetings in Greenville in the chromatic rivalry.
Eight common opponents between WCU and Furman include Winthrop, UNC Asheville, Charlotte, UNCG, Samford, The Citadel, ETSU, and Wofford. Furman holds a 5-3 record compared to a 3-5 mark for WCU. Furman finished 2024 with a 13-14 record, including a 7-8 mark in SoCon play before falling to ETSU in five sets during the quarterfinals of the SoCon tournament.
Furman is led on both ends of the court by sophomore Tennyson Gorman with a team-high 177 kills, ninth in the SoCon, adding a conference-high 88 blocks for the Paladins. She also garnered a Defensive Player of the Week award earlier this season. Sophomore Ashley Stein has 161 kills as she's tallied a pair of double-doubles on the season. Junior Izzy Castelloe has 135 kills, followed closely behind by classmate Lindsay Walch with 103 kills on the season.
Junior Emily Navarro has tallied the fifth-most assists in the SoCon with 373 helpers as she's had eight double-doubles on the season for the Paladins. Sophomore Quinn Morrissey has 228 assists with a pair of double-doubles. Furman is third in the league with 105 service aces, led by freshman Ashtan Dodson with 20 and junior Kennedy Seekford with 17 aces.
On defense, Seekford leads the way with 264 digs, fifth in the SoCon, and is joined by Yalçinkaya as one of six players in the conference averaging over four digs per set. Navarro has 142 digs, and Stein has 129 for Furman. Following Gorman's league-best 88 rejections, Castelloe has 49 stops, and freshman Kacie Moore has 36 blocks in 2025.
Michelle Young, a three-time SoCon Coach of the Year honoree, is in her 26th season at Furman. The Paladins were picked in fourth place with a first-place vote and just seven points behind Samford for second place in the SoCon Preseason poll. Furman had Castelloe garner preseason All-SoCon honors.
What's Next for the Catamounts:
Following Saturday's action in Greenville, Western Carolina returns home for the second-to-last time in 2025 with a visit from Wofford on Thursday, Oct. 23, before hosting The Citadel the next night to open the second half of Southern Conference action. Both matches are slated for a 6 p.m. first serve from Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.
Thursday's meeting with Wofford will be Purple Out & Volleywood Night. Friday's matchup with the Bulldogs will be the HalloWHEEn match. Both matches with the Terriers and the Bulldogs are scheduled for ESPN+ (paid subscription 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).
