Asheville, N.C.  – Freshman Tatum Sharp finished with a team-best 11 kills, but top-seeded ETSU defeated the eighth-seeded Western Carolina in straight sets on Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 Ingles Southern Conference Volleyball Championship at Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville. The Bucs earned the win by the score of 25-22, 25-19, 25-22 to advance to Saturday's semifinals.

Sharp hit an impressive .375 with four digs and a pair of blocks to accompany her 11 kills. Classmate Samantha Kranzler totaled eight kills and nine digs, followed by sophomore Peri Subat, who had seven kills and five digs for the Purple & Gold.

The 2025 SoCon Co-Freshman of the Year, Sharp finished tied for sixth among WCU freshmen in the rally scoring era (since 2008) with 252 kills in her debut season. Kranzler joined Sharp on the list with 243 kills, which was good enough for ninth place on the same list. Sharp also moved into sixth place in the same freshman rally scoring record book with 74 stops.

Katie Boney, the SoCon's Setter of the Year, finished off a solid junior season with 32 assists to go along with six digs, three kills, and two blocks. She became the 22nd player in school history to eclipse 1,000 assists in a season, finishing 17th on the list with 1,066 helpers. On the defensive end, junior Eda Yalçinkaya had a team-best 14 digs, followed by 12 from sophomore Halley Tang, as Sharp, Boney, and sophomore Courtney Graham each had two blocks.  

Graham finished off a strong sophomore season on the block with 118 rejections as she moved into a tie for 10th in the program's single-season record book. She had 25 matches with multiple blocks throughout the 2025 campaign.

ETSU's Makayla Bays, the SoCon Player of the Year, led everyone on Friday with the double-double effort of 20 kills and 11 digs, adding four service aces. Chloe Smith totaled 13 kills, followed by first-team All-SoCon honoree Whitley Rammel with eight kills and a .500 hitting percentage. All-Freshman team honoree Bailey Gohlke led the Bucs with 18 assists, followed by Alex Kreutzmann with 16 assists and 11 digs. Melanie Morris led the Bucs' defensive attack with 25 digs as Gianna Blair led ETSU on the block with four stops, followed by Isabelle Iosua with three blocks.

Behind a red-hot offensive start that saw the Purple & Gold hit over .400, the Catamounts opened the match on a 9-4 run to seize early control against the regular season champions. The Bucs cut it to four, 12-8, before a back-and-forth middle portion saw WCU lead 18-13 in the set. The Bucs had the final burst with a 12-4 spurt down the stretch for the 25-22 win in the opening stanza.

The Catamounts continued their hot start on Friday with another 8-4 burst out of the gates in the second set, but it was quickly met with a 7-3 ETSU run to even things at 11. Western Carolina (8-21) promptly responded to make it 13-11, but a 12-3 burst from the Bucs saw the lead swell to 23-16 as ETSU closed out a set two win at 25-19 to increase the lead to 2-0.

After a tight battle in the early stages of a must-win set for the Catamounts, ETSU (22-6) slid in front by four, 11-7, before a quick four-point burst from WCU evened the stanza at 11. The Bucs used an 8-3 run to push ahead by five, 19-14, before a 6-1 burst from the Catamounts evened the set at 20, forcing an ETSU timeout. The regular season champions held on down the stretch with a 5-2 run to hold on and claim the match in three sets.

Friday's match concluded the career of a pair of Catamount seniors in Janelle Blue (Clover, S.C.) and Samantha Jo Mikosky (Bethlehem, Pa.).

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