Asheville, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball opened its second weekend of tournament action on the wrong end of a Friday night 3-0 defeat at the hands of the College of Charleston, a former Southern Conference foe, at Harrah's Cherokee Center – Asheville.
The Catamounts fall to 2-2 on the young season and return to action on Saturday for the final day in the Blue Ridge Volleyball Classic, facing Bradley (11 a.m.) and Charlotte (7 p.m.). College of Charleston climbed to 2-3 after splitting day one in Asheville and will conclude the weekend on Saturday against Charlotte.
Senior Janelle Blue led a quartet of players with seven kills apiece, joined by junior Zoe Zudans and the freshman tandem of Tatum Sharp and Abbie Willis. Sophomore Courtney Graham added six kills in the straight-set defeat with an impressive .357 hitting percentage in the setback.
Junior Katie Boney dished out a match-high 30 assists, along with five digs, a block, and an ace to fill the stat line. On the defensive end, junior Eda Yalcinkaya had a team-high 15 digs. Graham and Sharp both paced the Catamounts with four blocks as Blue added a pair.
Caroline Noonan led all players on Friday with 10 kills, complemented by five blocks and a pair of assists. Emma Duffield had eight kills and eight digs for the Cougars. Lauren Dow picked up a team-best 24 assists to go along with eight digs and three blocks in the victory.
Jumana Martin led CofC with 21 digs on the defensive end, and Cole Crews also reached double figures with 10 digs.
After numerous back-and-forth battles early in the first set, the Cougars used a 12-4 run to surge ahead and take a 19-11 lead in the later stages. Charleston controlled the remainder of the set over the final seven points, earning six to secure the 25-12 set victory and take the early lead in Friday's action.
The Cougars took an early four-point lead in the second set before the Catamounts mounted an offensive outburst, going on an 8-4 run to even the second set at 13 at the midpoint. The middle of the set saw the Catamounts inch ahead by one, 18-17, before the Cougars scored four of the next five points for a 21-19 lead and forced a WCU timeout. After a quick tie from WCU, Charleston scored four of the final five points to take the set 25-22 and push the lead to 2-0.
The Cougars started fast with a 7-2 run to seize early control over WCU in a must-win third set. The Catamounts used runs of 4-to-1 and 9-to-2 over the next several points to race out to a three-point lead at the midpoint of the set and forced Charleston into a timeout. CofC responded with a quick 5-2 burst, though, to cut the deficit to one, 18-17, which forced a timeout by WCU. The Cougars regained the late lead at 21-20 before a quick three out of four from WCU gave the Purple & Gold a late lead. However, the Cougars managed the match's final three points to earn the match win.
The Catamounts return to the court in Asheville on Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m., with a matchup against Bradley before closing the weekend with a primetime 7 p.m. first serve against Charlotte. 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. Both matches for the Catamounts on Saturday will have live stats 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).
