Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball pulls the curtain back on the 2025 season with the first of six straight road matches, beginning its 2025 slate with a season-opening trip to Boca Raton for the Florida Atlantic Invitational, hosted by FAU at Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena.
WCU begins the season bright and early on Friday morning against Big 12 counterpart Texas Tech, with the first serve set for 10 a.m. WCU also faces Kent State at 4:30 p.m. on Friday in South Florida. The tournament finale is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday against the host Owls, which closes out the weekend in Boca Raton.
Friday's doubleheader for the Catamounts will be shown on Flo Sports (paid subscription required), while Saturday's action will be broadcast on FAUSports.com. Live stats for all three matches will be available on CatamountSports.com.
Match One: Western Carolina vs Texas Tech
Date: Friday, Aug. 29
Time: 10 a.m.
Site: Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena (Boca Raton, Fla.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Live Video: Flo Sports (paid subscription required)
Twitter: @CatamountVB
Match Two: Western Carolina vs Kent State
Date: Friday, Aug. 29
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Site: Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena (Boca Raton, Fla.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Live Video: Flo Sports (paid subscription required)
Twitter: @CatamountVB
Match Three: Western Carolina at FAU
Date: Saturday, Aug. 30
Time: 1 p.m.
Site: Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena (Boca Raton, Fla.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Live Video: FAU Sports
Twitter: @CatamountVB
From the Service Line:
Following the opening weekend tournament action, WCU heads down the road for a three-match tournament in the inaugural Blue Ridge Volleyball Classic, presented by Ingles Markets, in conjunction with Explore Asheville, the Asheville Buncombe Regional Sports Commission, and Lightstrike Hard Refresher. The Catamounts will be joined by Charlotte, Bradley, and the College of Charleston, a former SoCon opponent.
The Catamounts begin their home slate with a midweek showdown against mountain-rival UNC Asheville before making the trek to North Alabama for a matchup with the host Lions and SEC foe Alabama. The nonconference slate concludes with back-to-back road bouts against Winthrop and Queens. The Catamounts open SoCon play with a road matchup at The Citadel and Wofford before returning to Cullowhee for a SoCon home opener against ETSU on Oct. 3.
The Catamounts return nine letter winners, including six players who appeared in 27 or more matches for WCU during the 2024 campaign: Janelle Blue, Eda Yalçinkaya, Samantha Jo Mikosky, Halley Tang, Zoe Zudans, and Katie Boney.
WCU's 15th-year head coach Karen Glover added six freshmen to round out the 2025 roster. Elise Gurley (Wake Forest, N.C.), Danielle Wheat (Mount Olive, Ala.), Tatum Sharp (Loveland, Colo.), Samantha Kranzler (Norwood, N.J.), Evelyn Keefer (Winder, Ga.), and Abbie Willis (Punta Gorda, Fla.).
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Juniors Katie Boney and Eda Yalçinkaya both enter their third seasons in Cullowhee, looking to reach some statistical milestones. Both Boney and Yalçinkaya have the opportunity to achieve career benchmarks during the 2025 season.
Junior Katie Boney (825 Assists):
The Milton, Ga. native begins her third year with the Catamounts needing just 175 assists to become the 17th player in program history to eclipse 1,000 career helpers. She looks to build off a solid sophomore campaign with a team-high 543 assists, which ranked ninth in the SoCon and is fourth among returning student-athletes in the league when it comes to assists.
Junior Eda Yalçinkaya (728 Digs):
The Catamounts' third-year libero enters the 2025 campaign needing just 262 digs to reach the 1,000-dig plateau. The Istanbul, Turkey native comes off her sophomore season, where she totaled 404 digs to lead the squad and ranks fifth among returners for WCU on the defensive end of the court.
SCOUTING THE FIELD:
Texas Tech (14-16, 6-12 B12 in 2024) – RPI 122
Friday's opening service for the Catamounts comes against a Power Four opponent, Texas Tech, in the first-ever meeting on the volleyball court. Friday's action marks the first matchup against a Big 12 foe since 2023, when the Catamounts visited Fort Worth to face TCU.
Texas Tech enters 2025 after a 14-16 record a season ago under the direction of 27th-year head coach Tony Graystone, who's totaled 570 wins during his three stops at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, West Texas A&M, and in Lubbock. Graystone ranks third in Texas Tech history in wins during his now nine prior seasons with the Red Raiders.
Graduate student middle blocker Aliyah McDonald returns as the top offensive threat for the Red Raiders from a season ago. McDonald led the team in kills (121), blocks (96), and hitting percentage (.241) a season ago. McDonald is one of five returners to the roster for 2025 as six Red Raiders are back, with a sixth player returning off injury in 2024.
Texas Tech was tabbed 12th in the 15-team Big 12 Preseason Poll, which featured five teams receiving first-place votes. Six teams from the league were ranked inside the top 25 of the initial AVCA/Taraflex Division I Preseason Poll, unveiled on August 6.
Kent State (2-26, 1-17 MAC in 2024) – RPI 312
After the Golden Flashes battle with the host Owls on Friday afternoon, Kent State and WCU are set to do battle on the volleyball court for just the second time in the two programs' histories – and for the first time in 19 years since Kent State took a 3-0 sweep in Cullowhee.
Kent State finished 2024 with a 2-26 mark, including a 1-17 record in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during the previous season. The Golden Flashes are led by senior outside hitter Mackenzie McGuire, who garnered a preseason MAC All-Conference selection from the league earlier this month. In 2024, McGuire totaled 261 kills, averaging 3.11 kills per set, to pace KSU. Classmate Greta Bolognini paced the Golden Flashes last season with 270 digs on the defensive end.
Fourth-year head coach Haley Eckerman leads the Golden Flashes after a successful playing career. Eckerman was a four-time All-American and 2012 national champion at the University of Texas before joining Kent State. Kent State enters the 2025 season picked 12th in the MAC Preseason Poll, led by McGuire's preseason all-conference selection.
FAU (18-13, 8-8 AAC in 2024) – RPI 118
Saturday's tournament finale for WCU features a matchup against event host FAU, a member of the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The matchup with the Owls is the first of two in this year's nonconference season that involves a matchup with the AAC, as the Catamounts battle Charlotte in Asheville next weekend in neutral court action.
The Owls enter following an 18-13 record from 2024, including an 8-8 mark in the AAC. FAU earned five wins over Top 100 RPI opponents during the 2024 season, including twice defeating Rice, South Florida, SoCon-foe Mercer, and Ball State. Senior middle blocker/right side Madison Dyer returns as the top offensive threat from last season, as she totaled 237 kills a season ago, along with a team-best 98 blocks. Senior Victoria Hensley comes back off an eye-popping stat line in 2024 with 1,258 assists, good enough for 15th in the nation. Hensley totaled 12 double-doubles as she was named to the league's preseason all-conference team.
WCU and FAU have split the prior two meetings between the two programs, with Saturday being the first since Sept. 2016 when the Owls earned a 3-1 win over the Catamounts in Tampa, Fla. Western Carolina earned the five-set win over FAU in 1994 in a neutral-site battle in Atlanta.
The Owls are led by 14th-year head coach Fernanda Nelson, who has totaled 190 wins during her 13 past seasons in Boca Raton. Led by Hensley, who was one of 13 student-athletes honored by the league's coaches on the preseason all-league team, the Owls were picked fifth in the 2025 conference preseason poll.
What's Next for the Catamounts:
Following Saturday's finale with the Owls, Western Carolina travels to Asheville to participate in the inaugural Blue Ridge Volleyball Classic, presented by Ingles Markets, in conjunction with Explore Asheville, the Asheville Buncombe Regional Sports Commission, and Lightstrike. The event is set to begin on Friday, Sept. 5.
The Catamounts battle former SoCon foe College of Charleston on Friday night before facing Bradley and Charlotte the next day at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, site of the 2025 SoCon Volleyball Championship in November. Tickets for the weekend's events in Asheville are on sale online through BlueRidgeVolleyballClassic.com or Ticketmaster.com and at the iHeart Media Asheville Box Office located at the venue.
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).
