Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina women's tennis closes the 2025 regular season on the road Saturday afternoon as the top four squads in the Southern Conference standings meet on the final weekend. The Catamounts travel to Spartanburg, S.C., to face the Wofford Terriers with the first serve set for 2 p.m. on the courts at the Reeves Tennis Center.
The Catamounts (14-8, 4-2 SoCon) most recently took perennial power ETSU Buccaneers down to the wire in a 4-3 decision that fell in the reigning conference champion's favor. Wofford (15-3, 4-2 SoCon) battled the Furman Paladins their last time out but fell 6-1.
Both WCU and Wofford (15-3, 4-2 SoCon) are jockeying for tournament seeding in Saturday's match with the winner earning the No. 3 seed in next week's SoCon tournament. Unbeatens ETSU and No. 41 Furman meet in Greenville, S.C., at 11 a.m. to decide the top seed and the regular-season champion.
Saturday's Tennis Matchup:
Western Carolina (14-8, 4-2 SoCon) vs Wofford (15-3, 4-2 SoCon)
April 12, 2025, | 2 p.m. | Reeves Tennis Center | Spartanburg, S.C.
Players to Watch:
Junior Jade Groen is on an all-time best run for the Catamounts after taking down ETSU's Daniela Rivera in straight sets in Tuesday's match in Cullowhee. Groen added the 6-1, 6-2 victory to her impressive 15-2 record and is now 6-0 in SoCon play. Her only win to go the distance was a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 decision over Furman's Sara Snyder back in February. Groen is one singles win away from recording her single-season career-high at 16. The Zoetermeer, Netherlands product has the best record among the league's top seeds at 14-2.
Junior Isabella Sambola also picked up a hard-fought singles win against ETSU in one of the most entertaining matches on Tuesday, rallying after a tumultuous 7-6 (7-5) set one loss. She then posted 6-4, 6-4 wins in sets two and three to claim her 10th win of the season, a career-high mark. Sambola is on a six-match winning streak and is 5-1 in conference play, competing exclusively on the second court where she has one of the best marks in the conference.
Senior Angela Perez and freshman Hokualohi Lui have had strong runs as well, going 4-2 in conference play for the Catamounts on courts five and six, respectively. The two are looking to get back in the win column after falling against ETSU.
Catherine Blouin leads Wofford in overall singles record at 15-3 in solo play and 14-3 on court four. Chloe Elliott is perfect in SoCon play, carrying a 6-0 record on court six for the Terriers while top-seeded Breda Brennan is 10-7 and .500 in conference matches with a 3-3 mark. Wofford had its two-match win streak snapped by Upstate rival Furman on Wednesday in a match that was rescheduled from March 30.
Up Next for the Catamounts:
WCU is back in action at the 2025 Southern Conference Women's Tennis Championship at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn. Pending results in Spartanburg, the Catamounts will either be the third seed with a win and compete in match three in the Scenic City, or face the No. 5 seed as the fourth seed in the second match in tournament play.
