Cullowhee, N.C.  – Sophomore Peri Subat led the Catamounts with a career-high 17 kills as Western Carolina volleyball concluded the 2025 regular season, dropping a four-set match to the visiting Mercer Bears Saturday night on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. Mercer earned the victory by scores of 21-25, 25-17, 28-26, 25-22.

Subat hit .324 in cobbling together a career night to pace the Catamount offensive attack. Freshman Tatum Sharp added 14 kills to go along with four digs, four blocks, and a pair of aces. Senior Janelle Blue added eight kills and a pair of blocks, eclipsing the 200 career block plateau.

Junior Katie Boney led the Catamounts with 43 assists to go along with eight digs, two kills, and an ace. On the defensive end, junior Eda Yalçinkaya posted a team-best 19 digs, followed by freshman Elise Gurley with 10 digs. Sharp led the WCU block with four rejections, followed by two from Blue and freshman Samantha Kranzler.

Sharp moved into eighth place among WCU freshmen in the rally scoring era (since 2008) for kills with 234 in her debut campaign. Also, with her four blocks, Sharp also moved into a tie for seventh place in the same record book with 67 stops.

Sophia Henry led the Bears with a game-high 21 kills to go along with eight digs as she posted a .362 hitting percentage. Charlotte Thompson picked up 16 kills at a .500 clip for the guests, and Lara Matta added 11 kills to round out the trio in double figures for Mercer.

Sammi Bergjans led the Bears in the assist column with 32 helpers and 16 digs for the lone double-double of the night, as Jessica Dunn added 18 assists. On the defensive end, Aubri Martin led the way with 21 digs, followed by Bergjans with 16 and Abbey Havrilla with 12 digs. Joselynn Sanjurjo led Mercer's block with three rejections, followed by Avery Wilks with two stops.

Mercer took an early three-point lead in the opening set before the Catamounts put together seven unanswered points to flip the scoreboard in their favor at 13-9 midway through the opening stanza. The Bears put together a quick answer followed by a 6-3 burst from the hosts to get to 20 first at 20-16. Mercer continued to fight with a 4-1 run of their own before WCU closed with four of the final five points to claim the set 25-21.

Western Carolina fired out of the gates with an early 6-3 burst before being met with an 11-3 spurt by Mercer that flipped the scoreboard orange at 14-9. WCU was able to whittle the deficit to four, 17-13, before the Bears used an 8-4 run down the stretch to even the match at a set apiece with a 25-17 set win.

Following three early ties, the Catamounts rattled off five unanswered points to take an early 10-5 lead in the critical third set. Mercer was up for the challenge of fighting back with an 8-4 run of its own to cut the deficit to one, 14-13 at the midpoint of the stanza. The Bears used a 7-4 spurt to win the race to 20 before WCU rattled off three straight points to take a 22-20 lead late in the set. The Bears finished off the set with an 8-4 burst to win in extra points 28-26 and take a 2-1 lead.

In a must-win fourth set, WCU withstood an early offensive charge from the Bears using a 7-2 burst to take a 10-8 lead in the early stages of the stanza. After a back-and-forth middle stage of the set that featured 10 ties, Mercer scored seven of 10 points down the stretch to earn the 25-22 fourth set win and take the match in four sets.

The Catamounts turn their attention to the 2025 Ingles Southern Conference Volleyball Championship, hosted at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville. Western Carolina's pursuit of the Southern Conference Championship will begin on Thursday, Nov. 20, with a matchup against No. 9 The Citadel beginning at 4 p.m. in Asheville. The winner of Thursday's match advances to Friday's Quarterfinal against the regular-season champion ETSU.

All matches during the tournament will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), and live stats will be linked on CatamountSports.com. Tournament Central for the entire tournament can be found HERE. 

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