CHARLESTON, S.C. – Senior Janelle Blue and sophomore Courtney Graham guided a strong offensive night with 11 kills apiece to pace the squad as Western Carolina volleyball opened Southern Conference play with a straight-set road sweep of The Citadel on Friday afternoon at the McAlister Field House. WCU earned the decision with a 25-20, 25-16, 25-19 result, improving to 1-0 in league play for the seventh straight season.
As a team, WCU put together its strongest offensive effort of the season with a season-high .300 hitting percentage, recording 48 kills with just 12 errors en route to the 3-0 sweep. The Catamounts improve to 4-0 this year when earning the opening set victory and 4-1 when recording more kills than their opponents.
Graham and Blue led the Western Carolina offense as the pair both tallied 11 kills, with Graham also adding a career-best four solo stops. Junior Zoe Zudans chipped in seven kills to the offensive attack, and freshman Samantha Kranzler had six kills and 13 digs in the triumph. Junior setter Katie Boney tallied her team-high fifth double-double with 36 assists and a team-high 15 digs for WCU. Junior Eda Yalçinkaya matched Kranzler in the defensive category with 13 digs of her own.
Rachel Reininger led the Bulldogs with nine kills and 12 digs, along with a pair of aces in the contest. Gwen Berry added six kills and nine digs for the hosts on Friday afternoon. Greta Pleuss dished out 27 assists while adding three digs. Following Reininger's 12 digs was Jess Martin with 10. Luci Lippelgoos had a pair of blocks for the Bulldogs.
Friday's opening set featured 11 ties in the early going as neither team had more than a two-point advantage before a 5-2 run allowed WCU to take a three-point lead at 19-16. The Bulldogs battled the set to a one-point deficit, 20-19, before the Catamounts scored five of the final six points to secure the 25-20 win for the 1-0 lead.
WCU claimed the early advantage in the second set with a pair of three-point advantages before the hosts used an 8-3 burst to take a 13-11 lead at the midpoint. The Citadel maintained a two-point lead until the Catamounts put together an impressive run by scoring 12 of the final 13 points of the set to race past the Bulldogs 25-16 and claim a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set started even on both sides with neither team able to gain much footing before back-to-back 4-0 spurts saw WCU edge in front 12-11 near the midpoint of the stanza. WCU created separation with eight of the ensuing nine points to jump in front 20-12.
The Bulldogs battled down the stretch, cutting the deficit to five on a pair of occasions before the Catamounts finished off their first 3-0 sweep of 2025. WCU strung together a strong finish on Friday with a .378 hitting percentage, tallying 19 kills and just two errors to secure the sweep.
Western Carolina (5-7) continues its opening weekend of league play on Saturday, Sept. 27, with a trip to Spartanburg, S.C., for a matchup against preseason favorite Wofford. Saturday's match is set for a 6 p.m. first serve and is slated for ESPN+ (a paid subscription is required), as both contests will have live stats available on CatamountSports.com.
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