Cullowhee, N.C. – Following a four-set victory over in-state rival UNCG, Western Carolina volleyball continues its four-match homestand with a pair of Southern Conference foes. The Catamounts open with a visit from Chattanooga on Thursday night before welcoming Samford to Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center on Friday evening.

Thursday's matchup with the Mocs is slated for a 6 p.m. first serve and is part of "Dig Pink" and "Back The Cats." Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game as part of October's Breast Cancer Awareness. Friday's matchup with the Bulldogs is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and is Catamount volleyball Alumni Night.

Admission this week – and for all home matches throughout the 2025 season – is free of charge, courtesy of First Bank. The matchup with the Mocs is scheduled for ESPN+ (paid subscription required), and both will feature live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.

MATCH #1 PREVIEW: Chattanooga (8-8, 2-2 SoCon) at Western Carolina (6-9, 2-2 SoCon)
Date: Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, N.C.)
Promotion: Dig Pink & Back The Cats
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter: @CatamountVB
 
MATCH #2 PREVIEW: Samford (5-10, 0-4 SoCon) at Western Carolina
Date: Friday, Oct. 10, 2025
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, N.C.)
Promotion: Alumni Night
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter: @CatamountVB
 
From the Service Line:
Returning to Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center first time in nearly a month, Western Carolina opened its four-match homestand by dropping a four-set decision to mountain-rival ETSU before bouncing back with a four-set win over UNCG on Saturday night in SoCon play.

Last time out, freshman Samantha Kranzler paced the offensive attack with a career-high 22 kills, and junior Katie Boney dished out a career-high 58 assists as WCU earned the four-set home victory over UNCG last Saturday. In Friday's homestand opener against ETSU, WCU freshman Tatum Sharp and junior Zoe Zudans led the offensive attack with 13 kills apiece, followed by senior Janelle Blue, who totaled 10 kills. Katie Boney led the Catamounts with 44 assists to go along with seven digs and a season-high four service aces.

Over the whole week, the offense was led by Zudans, who totaled 29 kills, including 16 on Saturday night's win, followed by 24 kills apiece from Kranzler and Sharp. Blue added 18 kills, followed by sophomore Courtney Graham with 11. Boney tallied 102 helpers over eight sets for a 12.75 per set average, along with 13 digs and four aces for WCU, collecting her fourth SoCon Setter of the Week honor on Monday.

On the defensive side of the stat sheet, junior Eda Yalçinkaya led the way with 35 digs, as 25 of those came in the win over UNCG. The Istanbul, Turkey native also picked up three assists in the victory. Kranzler added 27 digs to the squad's defensive stat line, followed by 21 apiece for sophomore Halley Tang and freshman Elise Gurley, as Zudans added 20 digs. Blue led the Catamounts on the block with 12 rejections, followed by Graham with nine stops and Sharp with seven blocks.

On the season, Zudans paces the Catamount offense with 172 kills, which ranks the Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. native seventh in kills and is seventh in kills per set at 3.25. Boney maintains the top spot in assists in the league with 561, while also holding the top spot in assists per set at 10.39. Holding the top spot for WCU, Graham begins Thursday's match third in blocks with 64 stops and is third in rejections per set at 1.19. Yalçinkaya begins the weekend sixth in the league with 220 digs as one of six players with at least four digs per set at 4.07.

Catamount Career Record Watch:
Juniors Katie Boney and Eda Yalçinkaya both enter their third seasons in Cullowhee, looking to reach some statistical milestones. Both Boney and Yalçinkaya can achieve career benchmarks during the 2025 season.

Junior Katie Boney (1,386 Assists): The Brookhaven, Ga., native continued her tremendous start to the season with 15 straight matches, surpassing 22 assists, including a new career-high with 58 helpers on Saturday against UNCG. Boney has also had 30+ helpers in 10 matches with six 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, Boney moved past Judy Green (1982-83) for 15th in program history for career assists as the Brookhaven, Ga. native now has 1,386 and a conference-high 561 on the season.

Boney sits at the top of the Southern Conference in assists with 561 helpers and is averaging 10.39 assists per set. She has earned four weekly honors throughout the 2025 season, with the most recent coming this week after the Catamounts' first home SoCon weekend. She looks to continue building off a solid sophomore campaign with a team-high 543 assists, which ranked ninth in the SoCon and is fourth among returning student-athletes in the league in terms of assists.

Junior Eda Yalçinkaya (948 Digs): WCU's third-year libero began the 2025 season with a team-high 220 digs, ranking her sixth in the SoCon following the opening two weekends of league action. She enters the weekend in Cullowhee needing just 52 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 Chattanooga (8-8, 2-2 in the SoCon in 2025 – 17-15, 7-9 SoCon in 2024)  – 2025 RPI 262
Chattanooga enters Thursday's match after an impressive four-set win over preseason favorite Wofford last Saturday on its home court, after falling to UNCG the previous night. The Mocs also have a win over Mercer, while falling to in-state rival ETSU in five sets thus far in the early SoCon slate.

WCU looks to get back in the win column against the Mocs as UTC earned both decisions in 2024, though the Catamounts still hold a head-to-head lead of 51-44, including a 29-14 lead in matches in Cullowhee.

Four common opponents exist between WCU and UTC, including Alabama, ETSU, UNCG, and Wofford, with both squads holding a 1-3 record against each other. Chattanooga finished 2024 with a 17-15 record, including a 7-9 record in league play before falling in the quarterfinals to eventual tournament champion Wofford.

Senior Sydney Jackwin leads the Mocs offensively, totaling a team-high 205 kills and ranking fourth in the SoCon, as she has tallied 12 matches in double figures, including eight double-doubles. Sophomore Kynli Kirkendoll has 120 kills, followed by classmate Gracie Rose with 109 kills on the offensive end.

Junior Ashley Reynolds leads Chattanooga in the assist column with 383 helpers, fourth in the league, as she's recorded nine double-doubles. Senior Chiara Napoli has recorded 142 assists, having already eclipsed double-figure assists seven times in 2025. The Mocs have a conference-high 102 service aces, led by Jackwin with a conference-best 26 aces, followed by Reynolds with 20 and junior Caiti Barthel with 19 aces.

On the defensive end, Barthel leads Chattanooga and ranks second in the league with 274 digs, as she's had five matches with 20 or more digs, including a season-high 33 against Indiana State. Barthel also claimed Defensive Player of the Week honors this past week for UTC. Jackwin has 178 digs thus far in 2025, followed by Reynolds with 147 digs. Kirkendoll ranks fourth in a tie for fourth with 61 rejections.

The Mocs were tabbed in a tie for fifth with UNCG in the SoCon Preseason Coaches' Poll, led by Julie Torbett in her fourth season with UTC. The veteran head coach has spent 32 years coaching at UNC Asheville, Indiana (PA), Winthrop, and East Carolina before joining the Mocs. Kirkendoll earned preseason All-Southern Conference honors.

About Samford (5-10, 0-4 in SoCon in 2025 – 15-12, 9-7 in SoCon in 2024)  – 2025 RPI 193
Samford (5-10, 0-4 SoCon) enters the Ramsey Center on Saturday night looking to snap a skid as the Bulldogs have dropped six of their last seven matches, including four in a row in SoCon play. The Bulldogs have maintained control of the all-time series, with WCU holding a 34-9 advantage in the head-to-head battles, including wins in each of the last six matches. Samford has won 12 of 16 all-time meetings in Cullowhee.

Five common opponents between WCU and Samford include Winthrop, North Alabama, UNCG, Wofford, and ETSU, with both squads holding a 1-4 record in those five matches. Samford finished 2024 with a 15-12 record, including a 9-7 mark in SoCon play before falling to The Citadel in five sets during the quarterfinals of the SoCon tournament.

Samford has been led by a pair of offensive threats thus far in 2025, including redshirt junior Kaleigh Meritt with 207 kills, along with junior Ally Cordes with 195 kills. Meritt sits third in the league in kills, while Cordes checks in fifth in the league in kills. Merrit has tallied seven double-doubles, including an eye-popping 32 kills against Winthrop, while Cordes has eight double-doubles. Meritt does have a SoCon Player of the Week honor in 2025.

Sophomore Shea Bruntmyer has earned the other two SoCon Setter of the Week honors not earned by Boney and is second in the league in assists with 470 helpers, as she's totaled five matches with 40+ assists and a double-double for Samford. Cordes has a team-high 22 service aces.

On defense, Meritt and Cordes lead the way with 148 digs apiece, followed by senior Amelia Johnston, who's totaled 137 digs. Senior Greer Golden leads Samford with 39 blocks, having already recorded six matches with three or more blocks in 2025.

Under the direction of 27-year veteran and in his 10th year in Birmingham, Keylor Chan, the Bulldogs were picked in second place with three first-place votes and just seven points behind Wofford in the SoCon Preseason poll. Chan has spent time at both Northwestern and Furman before his last 10 years with the Bulldogs. Samford had Meritt garner Preseason All-SoCon honors.

What's Next for the Catamounts:
Following Friday's matchup with the Bulldogs, Western Carolina 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).