Cullowhee, N.C. – Senior Janelle Blue led five Catamounts with double-digit kills and a trio with career performances on Thursday night in Southern Conference action against Chattanooga, but the Mocs rallied to escape with a five-set victory on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. Chattanooga won the match 17-25, 24-26, 25-15, 25-21, 17-15 to earn the five-set decision.
Blue led WCU's offensive attack with a career-best 20 kills to join freshman Samantha Kranzler and junior Zoe Zudans as the third Catamount to eclipse 20 kills in a match this season. Sophomore Courtney Graham and freshman Tatum Sharp both finished with 15 kills, with Graham setting a career benchmark. Zudans added 13 kills, followed by freshman Samantha Kranzler with her fifth double-double with 11 kills and a team-high tying 17 digs.
Junior Katie Boney rounded out the trio of career performances for WCU with a career-high 64 assists to accompany a team-high tying 17 digs for her team-best seventh double-double of the season. Boney is the first Catamount to eclipse 60 assists in a match since Oct. 7, 2006, when Katie Hennessey had 60 helpers in a five-set loss to The Citadel.
On the defensive end, following Kranzler and Boney's 17 digs apiece were sophomore Halley Tang, freshman Elise Gurley, and junior Eda Yalçinkaya with 12 digs apiece. Blue and Graham led the WCU block with three apiece, followed by two from Zudans.
Sydney Jackwin led all players on Thursday with a double-double, tallying 22 kills and 11 digs for the Mocs. Gracie Rose finished with 15 kills, followed by Jordin Glass with 10 kills and six blocks. Ashley Reynolds led the guests with 33 assists and 10 digs for a double-double, as Chiara Napoli had 24 assists.
On the defensive end, Caiti Barthel had a match-high 23 digs, followed by 11 from Jackwin and 10 from Reynolds. Kendyl MacAskill had a match-best eight rejections for the Mocs as Glass added six and Kirkendoll had four stops.
The Catamounts burst out of the starting gates quickly with a 7-1 run right out of the chutes to seize early control of the opening set. The Mocs pushed back before an 8-4 spurt from WCU allowed the hosts to stretch the lead to seven, 17-10. Chattanooga was unable to get it closer than five points before the Catamounts closed the set, taking a 25-17 opening set victory.
WCU continued its hot start trend with an early 8-4 lead before the Mocs flipped the scoreboard in their favor with an 11-4 run of their own to take a 15-12 lead in the second set at the midpoint. The hosts battled back with a 6-3 spurt to even the score at 18 before UTC ran the advantage to two, 22-20 late in the stanza. The Purple & Gold wouldn't be denied with six of the final eight points to claim a hard-earned 26-24 second set and take a 2-0 lead. The Catamounts totaled a .432 hitting percentage with 22 kills in the set to seize control.
Neither team was able to gain much footing in the early stages of the third set. After trailing 9-8, the Mocs went on a 17-6 run over the remainder of the set to force a fourth set with a strong 25-15 win in the third.
WCU used a quick 5-2 burst in the early stages of the fourth set to flip a 9-8 deficit to a 13-11 lead. The Mocs offense would go back to work and rattle off an 8-1 burst to take a 19-14 lead on WCU. The Catamounts pushed back with six of the following nine points before Chattanooga closed out with three of the final four to take the set 25-21 and force a decisive fifth set.
In the deciding fifth, the scoreboard remained tight before the Catamounts had a quick 4-1 run to take a 9-6 lead just past the halfway mark. The Mocs clawed back, though, with a 6-3 run of their own to even the set at 12. Western Carolina tallied back-to-back points to serve match point before the Mocs closed on a 5-1 run to steal the fifth set and secure the reverse sweep.
Western Carolina (6-10, 2-3 SoCon) closes its four-match homestand on Friday, Oct. 10, welcoming Samford to Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. The Bulldogs were idle on Thursday as they enter Friday's matchup looking to snap a four-game SoCon skid, with a record of 5-10 overall and 0-4 in the SoCon.
First serve against Samford on Friday is slated for a 6 p.m. start time. Friday's action with the Bulldogs will be Alumni Night. The match with the Bulldogs will feature live stats available on CatamountSports.com.
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