CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Three early-season tournaments and 10 home appearances on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center comprise Western Carolina's 27-match 2025 volleyball schedule announced today by 15th-year head coach Karen Glover.

The Catamounts make a pair of trips out of the Carolinas, opening in late August with a trio of weekend tournaments beginning in South Florida against Florida Atlantic out of the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The tournament slate continues with a trip to Asheville to battle a trio of opponents at the Harrah's Cherokee Center, the host venue of the 2025 Southern Conference Volleyball tournament, and a two-game tournament at the North Alabama Volleyball Classic.

In their lone appearances in Cullowhee until early October, the Catamounts open the 2025 slate with a home match against UNC Pembroke in an exhibition match on Friday, Aug. 22. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. Western Carolina also renews its mountain rivalry with UNC Asheville on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 6 p.m.

The first of three consecutive tournaments opens at Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton. The Catamounts are slated to face Big 12 foe Texas Tech and Kent State on Friday, Aug. 29, before battling the host Owls the following afternoon. WCU returns to the road on Friday, Sept. 5, with a matchup against former SoCon foe College of Charleston in the Blue Ridge Classic, hosted on the Harrah's Cherokee Center court. The Blue Ridge Classic closes the next day with a doubleheader against Bradley and Charlotte.

Western Carolina opens its 2025 regular-season home slate on Tuesday, Sept. 9, with a mountain rivalry matchup in Cullowhee against UNC Asheville.

The final scheduled tournament of the 2025 regular season sees the Catamounts head to Florence, Ala., for the UNA Volleyball Classic, hosted by the Lions. WCU and UNA battle on the opening day, Friday, Sept. 12, before squaring off against SEC opposition Alabama the next afternoon. The Catamounts then have a pair of standalone games to close out the 2025 nonconference slate, including a trip to Rock Hill on Sept. 18 to face Winthrop and to Charlotte to face Queens University the following night.

For the fifth time in the last seven seasons, WCU's Southern Conference schedule begins with a pair of road matches. The first is on Friday, Sept. 26, against The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. Then, the team travels the next night to Spartanburg for a showdown against the 2024 tournament champion, Wofford, which closes out September.

The month of October begins with a season-long four-game homestand, beginning against mountain-rival ETSU (Oct. 3), before hosting in-state foe UNCG (Oct. 4). The Catamounts continue their home swing with a Thursday, Oct. 9, match against Chattanooga, before welcoming Samford (Oct. 10) to close out the four-game stretch.

Western Carolina returns to the road to wrap up the first half of SoCon action, traveling to Mercer (Oct. 17) and chromatic rival Furman (Oct. 18) to close out the opening half of league action.

The Catamounts open the second half of the league slate with a pair of home tilts against Wofford (Oct. 23) and The Citadel (Oct. 24) before closing out the month with a trip to Greensboro against UNCG (Oct. 31).

The final month sees the Catamounts open with a road trip to ETSU on Friday, Nov. 1, before the final road swing of the 2025 regular season at Samford (Nov. 7) and Chattanooga (Nov. 8). Western Carolina returns home for the final time in 2025 to battle Furman on Friday, Nov. 14 before celebrating Senior Night on Saturday, Nov. 15 against Mercer.

The SoCon Tournament is scheduled for Nov. 21-23 at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C., moving to the neutral location to crown this season's champion and deliver the league's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament field. The 2024 tournament was slated for Asheville a season ago but was moved to Wofford's on-campus facility after Hurricane Helene forced the venue switch.

Western Carolina returns nine letterwinners from the 2024 squad, including two of its top defensive threats from a season ago: senior Janelle Blue (111 blocks, 156 kills) and classmate Samantha Jo Mikosky (73 blocks).

Complete promotional and broadcast schedules will be announced in the coming weeks. Most home matches are slated to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.

Keep track of everything related to Catamount volleyball and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts, @catamountvb), and Twitter (@catamounts, @catamountvb).