Cullowhee, N.C. – Three early-season tournaments along with 11 home matches on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center comprise Western Carolina volleyball's 31-match 2026 schedule, announced today by 16th-year head coach Karen Glover.

In their lone action in Cullowhee before SoCon play, the Catamounts begin the 2026 slate with a home match against Anderson (S.C.) in an exhibition match on Friday, Aug. 21. First serve is set for 6 p.m. on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.

The regular season opens as tournament play commences with one of just two trips out of North Carolina before the league schedule, with a visit to Clemson out of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for the Big Orange Bash. WCU then returns to Asheville for the second annual Blue Ridge Volleyball Classic at Harrah's Cherokee Center, the host venue of the 2026 SoCon Volleyball Championship.

The first of three straight tournament weekends for WCU opens at Clemson as the Catamounts kick off the 2026 regular season against Butler out of the Big East on Friday, Aug. 28, before battling Big South foe Charleston Southern the next afternoon. The opening weekend wraps up on Sunday, Aug. 30, with a showdown against the host Tigers.

On Friday, Sept. 4, WCU battles Bellarmine in the Blue Ridge Volleyball Classic. The tournament continues with matchups against Jacksonville State and Seton Hall on successive days, wrapping up the season-opening six-match road swing.

Western Carolina opens its 2026 regular season home slate with a Big South matchup on Tuesday, Sept. 8, battling Gardner-Webb.

WCU's nonconference tournaments wrap up with a trip to Boone for the three-day Mountaineer Classic, hosted by Appalachian State at the Holmes Convocation Center on Sept. 11-13. WCU opens the weekend by battling North Florida on Friday, Sept. 11, before a showdown against William & Mary the next evening. The weekend wraps up on Sunday, Sept. 13, when the Mountaineers and the Catamounts square off on the hardwood for the first time since a 3-2 WCU win in Blacksburg in 2022 and just the fourth time since the two teams were league mates through the 2013 season.

A trio of nonconference matches closes out WCU's 2026 nonconference slate, including a trip to Asheville on Sept. 15 to face UNC Asheville before a home-and-home with USC Upstate on Thursday, Sept. 17, in Cullowhee before visiting Spartanburg the next evening.  

With the addition of Tennessee Tech to the Southern Conference in the fall of 2026, the league has adopted a league slate that features teams traveling to an opponent once and playing a back-to-back set of matches. The new schedule sees each team play four home back-to-backs and four road back-to-backs, with one home/one road match against each league opponent.

For the sixth time in the last eight seasons, WCU's Southern Conference slate begins with back-to-back road matches at UNCG on Sept. 25-26.

October begins with four of five matches at home in Cullowhee, starting with Samford (Oct. 1-2), followed by chromatic rival Furman (Oct. 9-10), with a midweek road visit to Wofford (Oct. 6) sandwiched between the two home weekends.

The Catamounts return to action on Friday, Oct. 16, for the first of two straight on the road against Chattanooga. WCU then opens a three-match homestand on Oct. 22 and Oct. 23, against Mercer for two in a row with the Bears, before hosting Wofford (Oct. 27).

The Purple & Gold also travel to Charleston for a back-to-back against The Citadel on Friday, Oct. 30, before a Halloween afternoon showdown against the Bulldogs.

The final month sees the Catamounts travel to SoCon newcomer Tennessee Tech for a pair of matches beginning Nov. 6-7, to wrap up the road portion of the 2026 season. Mountain rival ETSU visits Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center Friday, Nov. 13, and Saturday, Nov. 14, for the final two matches of the 2026 campaign.

The SoCon Tournament is scheduled for Nov. 19-22 at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C., to crown this season's champion and deliver the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament field.

Western Carolina returns 12 letterwinners from the 2025 squad, including the reigning SoCon Setter of the Year in senior Katie Boney (1,066 Assists, 10.25/Set), along with 2025 SoCon Freshman of the Year Tatum Sharp (252 Kills, 74 Blocks)

Complete promotional and broadcast schedules will be announced in the coming weeks. Most home matches are slated to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available online 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).