Spartanburg, S.C. – Western Carolina volleyball opened a busy week of on-court action on the wrong side of a 3-0 sweep at Wofford on Tuesday night at the on-campus Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The Terriers claimed the match, 25-16, 25-21, 25-18.
Senior Zoe Zudans led the Catamounts with her 13th double-digit kill effort of the season, finishing with 10 kills for her fifth straight match in double figures. She added a season-best seven digs. Freshman Ashlyn Cobb and sophomores Tatum Sharp and Samantha Kranzler each picked up five kills.
Senior Katie Boney dished out 26 assists, along with a pair of kills and a block. Defensively, sophomore Elise Gurley led the Catamounts with 18 digs, followed by 12 from Cobb. Freshman JoJo Abeyta had a team-best four blocks, followed by three stops from Kranzler and two from Sharp, as all three had at least one solo stop, with Abeyta earning a pair of solo rejections.
Chloe Smith paced Wofford with a match-best 17 kills and six digs, hitting a .385 clip. Bradley Brown and Avery White added nine kills apiece, while Taylor Mendez chipped in eight. Taylor Pecht added 22 assists with eight digs, while Maddy Frazier added 16 assists and 12 digs for the lone double-double of the match.
Laney Klika led all players on Tuesday with 21 digs, followed by 12 from Frazier and 10 from Ella Coleman. Charlotte Bell paced Wofford with three stops.
The match began with 14 ties in the first half of the opening set, as neither team could gain more than a two-point edge. WCU did manage a 15-14 advantage at the media break. Coming out of the timeout, though, Wofford scored 11 of the next 12 points to win the opening set 25-16.
Following another tight start, the Terriers responded with an 8-3 spurt to grab a 10-6 lead early in the second stanza. Wofford later used a quick 5-2 burst to stretch its advantage to six, 19-13 late in the second set. WCU answered with a 7-2 spurt to cut the deficit to one at 21-20 before the Terriers scored four of the final five points to take the set 25-21.
Wofford scored six of the first nine points to open the third set before the Catamounts responded with five of the next seven, knotting the scoreboard at eight apiece. However, Wofford broke the early stalemate with eight of the next 11 points to push its lead to five, 16-11. WCU battled back with a 6-3 run to cut the deficit to two, 19-17, but couldn't get any closer as Wofford finished on a 6-1 run to complete the three-set sweep.
Western Carolina (5-13, 1-4 SoCon) returns home to Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center for a two-match Southern Conference series against chromatic rival Furman on Oct. 9-10. The first serve is set for 6 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Friday's match is "Decades Night," while Saturday's contest will serve as the team's annual White Out. Both matches will stream on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats 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).
