Cullowhee, N.C.  – Junior Katie Boney and freshman Samantha Kranzler both tallied double-doubles as Western Carolina volleyball fell in a hard-fought five-set match with chromatic rival Furman on Friday night at Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. The Paladins earned the victory 18-25, 25-22, 18-25, 15-12.

Kranzler tallied a match-best 18 kills and a career-high 20 digs for her seventh double-double of the season to pace the WCU offense. A trio of Catamounts each added 11 kills to the offensive attack, including sophomore Courtney Graham, freshman Tatum Sharp, and senior Janelle Blue, while sophomore Peri Subat had seven kills off the bench.

Boney led the Purple & Gold with 54 assists to go along with 17 digs, turning in her team-best ninth double-dip of the season. On the defensive end, following the 20 digs from Kranzler and 17 from Boney, freshman Elise Gurley posted a career-best 16 digs, while junior Eda Yalçinkaya had 13 digs, four assists, and a team-best three service aces. The Catamounts had a strong night on the block, led by Graham with a career-high nine stops.

With both of their offensive performance on Friday, Sharp and Kranzler moved into ninth and 10th, respectively, for kills by a WCU freshman in the rally scoring era (since 2008) with 220 and 219. Sharp also moved into sole possession of ninth place with 63 stops in her debut season.

Ashley Stein led the way for Furman with 16 kills and 15 digs for one of three double-doubles from the guests. Izzy Castelloe and Brooke Scheffler finished with 10 kills apiece for the Paladins. Emily Navarro passed out 33 helpers and 14 digs for a double-double, as Eva Wheeler added 16 assists. Scheffler led the way in digs with 23 for a double-double, followed by 21 from Kennedy Seekford, as Tennyson Gorman led the way with eight blocks.

The opening set started tight with neither team able to gain much footing before the Catamounts used a resounding 10-3 run to race out to a six-point lead, 14-8 at the midpoint of the stanza. After four in a row from the Paladins, the Catamounts quickly answered with a 7-2 burst of their own to take a 21-14 lead late in the set. Furman put up a fight late, but Graham finished it off to give WCU a 25-18 opening set win.

Furman came out firing in the second set, racing out to a four-point lead, 9-5, as the Catamounts cut into the advantage before the guests took a 14-9 lead at the halfway mark. WCU put together a 5-1 burst to cut the lead down to one before Furman scored eight of 13 points down the stretch to take a late lead and withstand a charge from the hosts and earn the 25-22 set two win.

The Paladins kept the pedal down with a 14-5 spurt out of the gates in set three as Western Carolina put together a burst of four unanswered to work its way back into the set. The guests continued the offensive outburst with 11 of the final 17 points, including the final five points, to take the set 25-15 and earn a 2-1 lead in Friday's action.

A must-win set started tight with eight early ties before the Catamounts used a 9-2 spurt to jump on the Paladins to a 20-13 lead in the later stages of the fourth. The finish saw the two teams trade points, but WCU held on down the stretch for a 25-18 set win, sending the chromatic rivalry to the fifth.

The Purple & Gold opened on a 5-3 burst that was followed by a 5-2 run from the Paladins to lead to Furman holding the 8-7 advantage at the side flip. After back-to-back points from WCU, Furman closed on a 7-3 run to hold on and win the match in five sets.

Western Carolina (7-19, 3-12 SoCon) concludes the 2025 regular season on Saturday (Nov. 15), for a senior day matchup against Mercer. First serve is slated for a 6 p.m. start. Saturday's match with the Bears will be Senior Night for the Catamounts and seniors Samantha Jo Mikosky and Janelle Blue. It will also feature the 'Hike & Spike' doubleheader, with Catamount football hosting ETSU at 
Noon before the matchup with the Bears. The match is scheduled for ESPN+ (paid subscription required) and will feature live stats available on CatamountSports.com.

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