MACON, Ga. – Western Carolina volleyball dropped a straight-set decision at Mercer on Friday night at Hawkins Arena to open the final weekend of the first half of Southern Conference play. Mercer earned the match decision 25-16, 26-24, 25-20 to claim the league victory.
Freshman Tatum Sharp led the Catamounts offense with eight kills and an impressive .571 hitting percentage, while also adding a pair of blocks and a service ace. Sophomore Courtney Graham tallied six kills along with a team-high four blocks. Freshman Samantha Kranzler and junior Zoe Zudans both had four kills, while freshman Abbie Willis had three kills on only four swings.
Junior Katie Boney led the Catamounts with 22 assists, as junior Eda Yalçinkaya led the Catamounts with 18 digs, moving within five digs of eclipsing 1,000 digs in her WCU career.
Charlotte Thompson led all players in Friday's match with 16 kills and a .517 hitting percentage to go along with three digs and two blocks. Joselynn Sanjurjo and Sophia Henry each added six kills for Mercer. A trio of Bears posted double-digit assists, led by Sammi Bergjans with 16 and Jessica Dunn with a dozen, as the group was rounded out by a double-double from Aubri Martin with 11 assists and 12 digs.
After a tight start on both sides with neither team able to gain an early edge, Mercer used a 5-1 burst to stretch the advantage to five, 9-4, in Friday's first set. WCU battled back and cut the deficit to one, 15-14, on the heels of scoring five of eight points before the hosts closed on a 10-2 run to claim the opening set by the score of 25-16.
The Catamounts jumped out to the early advantage in set two with numerous three-point leads out of the gates before the Bears battled back. Mercer cut the score to one on multiple occasions, with the last being 14-13 at the midpoint. The Bears fought back to an 18-18 tie before the Purple & Gold stretched the lead to five, 23-18.
Mercer had the final push, though, with an 8-1 spurt to claim the set 26-24 and lead the match 2-0.
In a must-win set, WCU and Mercer remained tight early on before a 6-2 run from the Bears allowed the hosts to take a 15-12 lead at the media timeout. The two teams traded spurts of two and three points to get the set to 20-17 in favor of Mercer, but the Catamounts would not get any closer as the Bears claimed the 25-20 set victory.
Western Carolina (6-12, 2-5 SoCon) closes out the first half of SoCon play on Saturday afternoon with a trip to Furman. Saturday's action with the chromatic rival is slated for a 4 p.m. start on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) and will feature live stats available on CatamountSports.com.
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