Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball continues a home-heavy portion of its schedule on Friday evening with the first of back-to-back Southern Conference matches against the Furman Paladins. Friday's opener is slated for a 6 p.m. start.
SATURDAY'S MATCH HAS BEEN MOVED TO 2 p.m. FIRST SERVE
Friday's match has been dubbed 'Decades Night', and Saturday's matchup with the Paladins is scheduled for a 'White Out', with fans encouraged to wear their white Catamount gear. Admission for all home matches in the Ramsey Center is free.
Both matchups will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats for both matches linked below and at CatamountSports.com.
Matchday: Furman (8-8, 2-3 SoCon) at Western Carolina (5-13, 1-3 SoCon)
Date: Friday, Oct. 9
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, NC)
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB
Date: Saturday, Oct. 10
Time: 2 p.m.
Site: Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, NC)
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB
From the Service Line:
The Catamounts suffered a three-set road loss at Wofford on Tuesday night. 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. Senior Katie Boney dished out 26 assists, while defensively, sophomore Elise Gurley led the Catamounts with 18 digs, followed by 12 from Cobb. Freshman JoJo Abeyta had a team-best four blocks.
Entering This Week's Chromatic Rivalry:
Boney ranks second nationally with a SoCon-leading 699 assists, while her 9.45 assists per set average ranks fifth in the NCAA. Zudans starts the weekend seventh in the league with 202 kills.
Sharp is second in the league with 71 total blocks and is fourth in rejections per set at 0.96. She is also among the national leaders in blocks. Boney checks in second overall in the conference with 26 service aces. Gurley starts Friday's chromatic rivalry second in the league with 316 digs and is also ninth in the NCAA in digs through this point in 2026. Her 4.27 digs-per-set average ranks third in the SoCon. Gurley is one of 15 NCAA Division I players to eclipse 300 digs this season.
As a team, Western Carolina leads the SoCon in digs (1,144) and sets played (74), while ranking second in kills (877), second in assists (816), and service aces (108). Nationally, the Catamounts enter the weekend ranked first in digs, 10th in assists and 12th in kills.
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Boney ranks ninth in the program's record book for career assists through her strong showing throughout 2026. Earlier this year, she became the 12th player in school history to reach 2,000 career assists, with 2,590. Boney needs 217 helpers to move into eighth in program history and pass Shari Harder (2000-03), who had 2,806 in her WCU career.
Scouting Furman (8-8, 2-3 SoCon) – RPI 191
Furman enters the weekend off a four-set loss to in-state league foe The Citadel on Tuesday on the heels of earning two victories over Chattanooga. The Paladins have won back-to-back matches three times this season but come to Cullowhee dropping four of their last six matchups overall.
Senior outside hitter Izzy Castelloe is fourth in the conference with a team-leading 226 kills, with two double-doubles this season. Castelloe has eclipsed double-digit kills in all 16 matches, posting a season-best 23 against Queens. Sophomore middle blocker Kacie Moore has 138 kills, followed by sophomore Ashtan Dodson with an even 100 kills for the Paladins.
Senior Emily Navarro paces the Paladins with 414 assists, sixth in the league. She's recorded 10 double-doubles on the season, averaging 6.37 assists per set, seventh in the SoCon. Freshman Morgan Baldridge has 190 helpers, 11 double-digit assist performances with a pair of double-doubles. Dodson leads Furman at the serve line with 16 aces.
Furman is one of three teams to eclipse the 1,000-dig mark in the SoCon with 1,033 digs, 10th best in the NCAA thus far in 2026. Senior libero/defensive specialist Kennedy Seekford ranks fourth with 266 digs, recording double-digit digs 14 times and surpassing 20 digs on six occasions. Dodson has 171 digs, and Navarro has 161 digs for Furman. Moore leads the Paladin block with 59 stops, followed by 49 from senior middle blocker Tennyson Gorman.
Five-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year, Michelle Young is in her 27th season as the Furman head coach, earning over 400 career wins in her Paladin career.
Furman was tabbed third in the 10-team Southern Conference Preseason Poll as one of three teams to earn a first-place vote with one selection, as Gorman was named to the league's eight-player all-conference team.
Series History:
The Catamounts and Paladins have played 90 times before Friday's opener in Cullowhee, with Furman holding a 52-38 all-time lead. WCU looks to snap a six-match slide to the Paladins on Friday as the Catamounts seek their first win since Oct. 14, 2022, in Greenville. The Purple & Gold look for their first win in Cullowhee in the series since Nov. 6, 2021, when WCU swept Furman. WCU is 21-19 all-time in matches contested in Cullowhee.
What's Next for the Catamounts:
After the two matches in Cullowhee, Western Carolina continues in league action on Friday, Oct. 16, heading to Chattanooga for back-to-back road tilts. The two teams open the two-match series beginning with a 6 p.m. first serve on Friday before a 3 p.m. start on Saturday afternoon from on-campus Maclellan Gym.
Both matchups with the Mocs will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), and live stats will be available via a link 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).
