Bella Hilleary

Women's Volleyball 10/21/2026 4:30:00 PM Greg Hartlage, Director of Media Relations

Volleyball Opens Homecoming Weekend with Mercer

Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball returns to kick-off 2026 homecoming on Thursday night, opening the longest homestand of the season. Thursday's contest is the first of back-to-back league matches against the Mercer Bears, who enter the week tied for first in the Southern Conference.

Both matches start at 6 p.m., with the first serve from Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. Thursday's action will be streamed live on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats for both matches linked below and at CatamountSports.com. Thursday's match has been dubbed 'Pajama Night'. Admission for all home matches in the Ramsey Center is free.

Matchday: Mercer (13-8, 7-2 SoCon) vs Western Carolina (7-15, 3-6 SoCon)
Date: Thursday, Oct. 22
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, N.C.)
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB

Date: Friday, Oct. 23
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, N.C.)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB

From the Service Line:
The Catamounts returned to the hardwood with a split in SoCon action on the road in Tennessee against Chattanooga, dropping the opener before earning a three-set win in the back end of the two matches. Sophomore Tatum Sharp led all players on Saturday with her 10th double-figure kill performance of the season, tallying 12 kills and hitting a team-best .440. Sharp also added a career-best eight digs, along with three blocks and a pair of service aces.

Senior Zoe Zudans recorded 10 kills, adding five digs and a block. Freshman Ashlyn Cobb added nine kills and 13 digs, along with a pair of service aces. Classmate JoJo Abeyta matched her season best with six kills and a team-best four blocks.

Overall in the two matches, Zudans led a trio of Catamounts with 20 kills, followed by 19 from Sharp and 16 from Cobb. Boney tallied 63 helpers over the seven sets. Sophomore Elise Gurley led WCU with 32 digs, while Boney added 25 and Abeyta had nine rejections.

Entering This Week:
Boney ranks fifth nationally with a SoCon-leading 827 assists, while her 9.4 assists-per-set average ranks fifth in the SoCon.

Sharp is fourth in the league with 79 total blocks and is seventh in rejections per set at 0.90. Boney checks in tied for third overall in the conference with 29 service aces. Gurley starts Thursday second in the league with 374 digs and is also 15th in the NCAA in digs through this point in 2026. Her 4.25 digs-per-set average ranks third in the SoCon. Gurley is one of just 22 NCAA Division I players to eclipse 350 digs this season.

As a team, Western Carolina leads the SoCon in digs (1,394) and sets played (88), ranks second in kills (1,044) and tied for second in assists (962), and third in service aces (127). WCU is also fourth in blocks (153). Nationally, the Catamounts enter the weekend ranked first in digs, tied for third in sets played, 14th in kills and 16th in assists.

Ahead of Thursday's matchup with Mercer the Catamounts continue to rank among the top 10 multiple NCAA rankings, Senior setter Katie Boney, sits fifth in the NCAA in helpers with 827 helpers. As a team, WCU sits FIRST in the NCAA in Digs. https://t.co/r5WfNeEDtf
— Western Carolina Volleyball (@CatamountVB) October 21, 2026

Catamount Career Record Watch:
Boney is ninth in the program's career record book for assists through her strong showing in 2026. Earlier this year, she became the 12th player in school history to reach 2,000 career assists. Currently with 2,718, Boney needs 89 more assists to move into eighth in program history and pass Shari Harder (2000-03), who finished with 2,806 in her WCU career.

Scouting Mercer (13-8, 7-2 SoCon) – RPI 207
Mercer begins the second half of Southern Conference play on a four-match win streak after earning back-to-back weekend sweeps, earning a pair of wins over Tennessee Tech and Furman. The two teams have met a trio of common opponents in Furman, Samford and Gardner-Webb, with the Catamounts earning a win over Gardner-Webb and Furman as the Bears have two wins over the Paladins.

Sophomore outside hitter/right side Lara Matta leads the Bears with 271 kills, ranking sixth in the SoCon as she's also fifth in the league with 3.66 kills per set. Matta has had three 20+ kill performances, including a season-best 25 against Alabama State. Matta has tallied seven double-doubles throughout 2026.

Junior middle blocker Joselynn Sanjurjo has 176 kills with nine double-digit kill performances. Freshman right side Brooklyn Palmer has 147 kills, while junior outside hitter/right side Taylor Timko is at 126. Senior middle blocker Avery Wilks has 115 kills.

Junior Sammi Bergjans is second in the SoCon with 765 assists as she totaled 10 double-doubles with a season-best 48 helpers against Gardner-Webb. Bergjans has earned three SoCon Setter of the Week awards, as she and Boney have won the last four league awards.

Mercer leads the league with 152 service aces, while junior libero/defensive specialist Aubri Martin ranks second with 32. Senior libero/defensive specialist Sarah Frager is tied for third in the conference with 29 aces.

Defensively, Martin leads Mercer with 320 digs, as she checks in fifth in the league with her digs. Martin has tallied five matches of 20+ dig performances, with a season-high 25 against Gardner-Webb. Matta has 193 digs, followed by Frager with 187 and Bergjans with 185. Sanjurjo leads the Bears with 49 blocks, while Wilks has 33 rejections.

Steve Benson is in his second season at the helm as Mercer head coach after combining to spend nine seasons at Presbyterian and DIII Eastern Mennonite. Between his time at Eastern Mennonite and Presbyterian, he also coached at Warner & Limestone's men's volleyball programs. The Bears were tabbed ninth in the 10-team Southern Conference Preseason Poll.

Series History:
Thursday's opener marks the 42nd all-time meeting between the Catamounts and the Bears, with WCU leading 23-18 all-time. Mercer holds a four-match win streak in the head-to-head series as the Catamounts look for their first win since a five-set road win on Oct. 26, 2023. The Catamounts look for their first victory in Cullowhee since September 24, 2022. WCU leads the all-time series 11-6 in matches held at WCU.

What's Next for the Catamounts:
After the two matches in the Cullowhee, Western Carolina closes out a three-match homestand on Tuesday, Oct. 27, with a visit from Wofford to close out the home-and-home with the Terriers. The two teams met on Oct. 6, with Wofford winning 3-0 in Spartanburg.

The two teams battle in Cullowhee on Tuesday, with a 6 p.m. first serve at WCU's Ingles Court in the Ramsey Center. Tuesday's matchup will air on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), and live stats for both matches will be available 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 X (@catamounts, @catamountvb).

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