Birmingham, Ala. – Led by the freshman duo of Tatum Sharp and Abbie Willis, Western Carolina volleyball opened the final regular-season road weekend on the wrong end of a four-set decision, falling to the Samford Bulldogs 3-1 at the Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs earned the win by scores of 25-17, 22-25, 25-16, 25-17.

Sharp put together an impressive offensive stat line with 12 kills, hitting .450, along with a pair of service aces and a pair of blocks. Willis joined Sharp in double figures with 11 kills, one off her career-high for the Punta Gorda, Fla. native. Senior Janelle Blue added eight kills, followed by five from sophomore Courtney Graham. Freshman Elise Gurley tallied a season-high with three service aces as Sharp and freshman Samantha Kranzler each had two aces.

Junior Katie Boney paced the Catamounts with 34 assists to go along with six digs and a block. On the defensive side of the hardwood, sophomore Halley Tang grabbed a career-high with 24 digs, followed by 11 from Kranzler. Graham led the Catamounts on the block with three more stops, including a pair of solo rejections, followed by Sharp with two blocks.

With her 12 kills on Thursday, Sharp moved inside the top 10 for kills by a freshman in the rally scoring era (since 2008) with 202 kills in her debut season. Sharp passed Brittany Lysik, who had 200 in her debut campaign, and set her sights on 213 in ninth place by Bailey Hartsough (2021).

Kaleigh Meritt led all players on Thursday with 16 kills and 10 digs for one of two double-doubles for the Bulldogs, as Ally Cordes had 15 kills and 14 digs. Sydney Waller added 11 kills, followed by Greer Golden with 10 for Samford. They also had a balanced night in assists, led by Shea Bruntmyer with 29 helpers, followed by 23 from Tatelyn Brandsma. Amelia Johnston led their defense with 21 digs, followed by 14 and 10 from Cordes and Meritt, as Janie Stinchcomb led the Bulldogs with three blocks.

Samford jumped out to the early advantage in the opening set with a 9-3 run to seize control, before a quick burst from WCU cut the score to 11-7 at the middle stages. The Bulldogs put the pressure back on the Catamounts with another 10-4 spurt to stretch the lead and withstood a late charge to allow the hosts to grab a 25-17 set one victory.

The second set started tight on both sides with seven ties before the hosts used a quick 5-2 burst to inch in front by three, 13-10. The guests responded quickly with a 9-3 run of their own to flip the scoreboard in their favor at 19-16. Samford battled back, cutting the deficit to one, 22-21, but was unable to get closer as WCU scored three of the final four points to take the set and even the match at a set apiece.

Similarly to how the opening set went, Samford raced out to another 9-3 advantage, forcing an early timeout from WCU. The Catamounts responded quickly with an 11-5 spurt that tied the set up at 14. The score quickly evened at 15 before the Bulldogs turned on the jets with 10 of the next 11 points down the stretch to claim the set 25-16 and take a 2-1 lead in Thursday's action.

For the third time on the night, the Bulldogs opened the fourth set with another 9-3 run to claim early control of the stanza. The Catamounts quickly cut the margin to three, 10-7, but were unable to get any closer as Samford continued to answer the bell every time the guests tried to mount a rally, keeping it at least at a six-point margin before the 25-17 set four victory.

Western Carolina (7-17, 3-10 SoCon) concludes its road slate on Friday night with a trip to the Scenic City to battle Chattanooga. The first serve against the Mocs is slated for 6 p.m. The match with the Mocs will feature live stats available on CatamountSports.com.

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