Cullowhee, N.C. – For the second straight season, Western Carolina volleyball opens Southern Conference play in the Palmetto State beginning Friday afternoon with a trip to Charleston to battle The Citadel before heading to Spartanburg to battle preseason favorite Wofford on Saturday.
WCU opens the weekend at 4 p.m. on Friday against The Citadel in the Holy City, followed by a matchup against the Terriers the following evening, starting at 6 p.m. in Spartanburg. Both matches with the Bulldogs and Terriers will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live statistics available for both matches online via a link at CatamountSports.com.
MATCH #1 PREVIEW: Western Carolina (4-7) at The Citadel (0-10)
Date: Friday, Sept. 26, 2025
Time: 4 p.m.
Site: McAlister Field House (Charleston, S.C.)
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter: @CatamountVB
MATCH #2 PREVIEW: Western Carolina at Wofford (4-7)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium (Spartanburg, S.C.)
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter: @CatamountVB
From the Service Line:
Western Carolina closed out nonconference play with a pair of road defeats at Queens and Winthrop last time on the court. The Catamounts look to flip momentum and to snap a four-match slide entering the Holy City on Friday afternoon. The Catamounts were led offensively in Charlotte and Rock Hill by junior Zoe Zudans and freshman Samantha Kranzler, who totaled 20 and 15 kills, respectively, in the two matches.
Two-time SoCon Setter of the Week Katie Boney finished the weekend with 49 assists and 11 digs as she continued her strong start to 2025, while totaling a league-high in assists (401) and assists per set (10.03). On the defensive end, junior Eda Yalçinkaya finished with 16 digs, followed by Kranzler with 13, and Boney's 11 digs, with freshman Elise Gurley adding 10 digs.
As a team, WCU enters Friday third in the league in kills per set (12.25), led by Zudans with 3.36 per set, as she's tallied a team-best 131 kills in the squad's opening 11 matches. She is joined at the top of the offensive scoring by Kranzler (2.43 per set and 97 kills) and freshman Tatum Sharp (2.27 per set and 84 kills). The Catamounts are third in assists per set (11.5), led by the conference's assists leader, Boney.
Western Carolina looks to continue its success in SoCon openers, as the Catamounts have earned a win in their first league match in each of the last six, with their last defeat coming at the hands of ETSU in 2018. In its current six-match win streak in SoCon openers, WCU has defeated UNCG, The Citadel twice, ETSU twice, and Samford.
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Juniors Katie Boney and Eda Yalçinkaya both entered their third seasons in Cullowhee looking to reach some statistical milestones. Both Boney and Yalçinkaya can achieve career benchmarks during the 2025 season.
Junior Katie Boney (1,226 Assists): The Brookhaven, Ga., native continued her tremendous start to the season with 11 straight matches surpassing 24 assists. She became the 17th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000 career assists mark during thrilling five-set reverse sweep of Bradley (Sept. 6).
Boney sits at the top of the Southern Conference in assists with 401 helpers, having already tallied four double-doubles on the year and averaging 10.03 assists per set. She garnered back-to-back SoCon Setter of the Week honors for the first two times in her WCU career. She looks to continue building 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 in terms of assists.
Junior Eda Yalçinkaya (893 Digs): WCU's third-year libero began the 2025 season with a team-high 165 digs, ranking her sixth in the SoCon following the pre-SoCon slate. She enters the weekend in South Carolina needing just 107 digs to reach the 1,000-dig plateau for her career. The Istanbul, Turkey native came 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.
The Citadel (0-10 in 2025 – 15-14, 8-8 SoCon in 2024) – 2024 RPI 168
The Citadel (0-10) opens its home slate looking to get in the win column for the first time in 2025 after dropping a pair of four-set decisions to Big South foes Gardner-Webb and USC Upstate last time out. The Bulldogs face Wofford on Thursday before welcoming WCU on Friday afternoon. The Citadel has faced three common opponents of the Catamounts: the College of Charleston, UNC Asheville, and Queens, with WCU's win over mountain-rival UNC Asheville is the only victory between the two squads.
The Citadel finished with a 15-14 record in 2024, including an 8-8 mark in the SoCon. The Bulldogs fell in the semifinals to the regular-season champion, Mercer. The Bulldogs are led by 10th-year head coach Dave Zelenock, who was named SoCon Coach of the Year following the 2023 season, where the Citadel earned a program-record 27 wins.
Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Reininger leads the Bulldogs' offensive attack with a team-high 55 kills as she tallied her first double-double against Gardner-Webb with 12 kills and 14 digs. Graduate student outsider hitter Savannah Freeman has totaled 51 kills with a double-double (15 kills, 16 digs) against Charleston Southern. Sophomore middle blocker Luci Lippelgoos has 48 kills for The Citadel thus far in 2025.
Sophomore Greta Pleuss leads the Bulldogs with 193 helpers, as she's tallied a pair of double-doubles coming against UNC Asheville (24 A, 14 D) and Gardner-Webb (28 A, 18 D). Reininger has a team-best seven service aces.
Pleuss and sophomore libero Jess Martin both have tallied 68 digs, followed closely by junior libero Mia Watson with 65. Lippelgoos leads the block for the Bulldogs with 35 rejections, followed by freshman outside hitter Jordyn Sims with 17 blocks.
The Bulldogs were picked seventh in the nine-team SoCon preseason poll, just six points away from a two-way tie for fifth with Chattanooga and UNCG.
WCU holds a 38-12 edge in the all-time series that includes a 17-6 mark in matches played in Charleston. Friday marks the fourth time in WCU's history that these two schools have opened SoCon play, as the prior three saw the Catamounts win in 2016 (W, 3-0), spring 2021 (W, 3-2), and 2024 (W, 3-2).
Wofford (4-7 in 2025 – 23-9, 12-4 in SoCon in 2024) – 2024 RPI 72
The reigning Southern Conference tournament champion awaits the Catamounts on Saturday night in Spartanburg as Wofford (4-7) enters the weekend off of a four-set win over Northern Arizona. The Terriers meet the Bulldogs on Thursday before battling the Catamounts on Saturday. Wofford has already faced challenges in the early stages of the 2025 campaign, with matches against Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Clemson, and South Carolina throughout the nonconference portion of its slate.
The Terriers were 23-9 in 2024, including a 12-4 mark in SoCon action. Wofford fell to Baylor in the 2024 NCAA Tournament after defeating Mercer to earn its second straight NCAA appearance. They are led by Lynze Roos, who is in her 11th season at the helm in Spartanburg, having recorded 177 wins during her time with Wofford.
Sophomore outside hitter Chloe Smith leads the Terriers with 134 kills, ranking sixth in the SoCon. Smith has tallied five double-doubles, including each of their last two matches. Junior middle blocker/right side Natalie Arnold has 88 kills, followed by sophomore middle blocker Bradley Brown with 78.
Junior Taylor Pecht has a team-high 187 assists, followed closely by sophomore Maddy Frazier with 166 helpers. The duo has totaled five double-doubles, with Pecht recording four of those five on the year. Frazier has a team-high 13 service aces, followed by senior defensive specialist Caroline Przystup with 11.
On the defensive end, junior libero Laney Klika is one of two players in the Southern Conference with over 200 digs. The reigning defensive player of the week has 200 digs and came off her first double-double of the season with 37 digs and 13 assists against Northern Arizona. Smith has 107 digs, followed by Pecht with 99. Klika is tied for the league-high with 5.00 digs per set and is among the national leaders entering the weekend.
On the blocking side, senior Annmarie Rakoski is second in the SoCon with 54 blocks, averaging a league-high 1.35 blocks per set, which has garnered her back-to-back SoCon Defensive Player of the Week honors, preceding the Klika honor.
The Terriers were picked as the preseason favorite in the nine-team SoCon preseason poll, receiving five of the nine first-place votes. Wofford had a conference-high three players on the 10-player preseason all-conference team, including Brown, Klika, and Bri Mahoney.
WCU holds a tight 28-26 advantage in the all-time series, with Wofford leading 17-7 in matches played in Spartanburg. The Catamounts look to snap a 15-match losing streak on Saturday in Spartanburg, which includes a 2023 SoCon tournament defeat to the Terriers and four five-set matches.
What's Next for the Catamounts:
Following Saturday's matchup with the Terriers, Western Carolina begins its 2025 Southern Conference home schedule with a visit from mountain-rival ETSU on Friday, Oct. 3, before welcoming in-state foe UNCG the following evening. Friday's match with the Bucs is slated for a 6 p.m. start, followed by a 5 p.m. first serve against UNCG on Saturday.
Friday's meeting with mountain-rival ETSU is part of the "Beat the Bucs" Blackout, with fans encouraged to wear their black WCU gear to the game. Saturday's action with the Spartans will be Kids at the Court & Neon Night. Both matches with the Bucs and the Spartans are slated for ESPN+ (paid subscription required), and both contests will have live stats available on 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).
