Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball opens its 2026 Southern Conference schedule on Friday night with the first of two straight road matches at UNC Greensboro at the on-campus Bodford Arena.

Friday's SoCon opener is slated for 6 p.m., followed by a 3 p.m. start against the Spartans on Saturday. Both matchups against UNCG are slated to air on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats for each match linked below and at CatamountSports.com.

Matchday: Western Carolina (4-9, 0-0 SoCon) at UNCG (7-4, 0-0 SoCon)
Date: Friday, Sept. 25
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Bodford Arena (Greensboro, NC)
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB

Date: Saturday, Sept. 26
Time: 3 p.m.
Site: Bodford Arena (Greensboro, NC)
Live Video: ESPN+ (paid subscription required)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB

From the Service Line:
The Catamounts look to snap a four-match slide as they begin SoCon play, capping a quartet of Big South Conference opposition last week against UNC Asheville and USC Upstate.

WCU senior Zoe Zudans led the Catamount attack in the three match week with 31 kills, including a season-best 17 kills in a home setback to USC Upstate. Sophomore Tatum Sharp added 23 kills and a team-high 13 blocks that included both a five and six-block effort. Senior Katie Boney tallied 101 assists over the three matches, including a 38-assist 30-dig double-double, the first Catamount to have 30 digs in a match since 2022, when Destinee Dorsey recorded 33 against Southern Miss in the NIVC Quarterfinals. Boney led a balanced defensive attack with 49 digs, followed by 45 from sophomore Elise Gurley and 39 by junior Halley Tang.

2026 SoCon Schedule Setup
Western Carolina embarks on an 18-match Southern Conference schedule, which looks a little different than year's past. The conference has elected to have teams travel once and play twice throughout most of the 2026 league slate, as the Catamounts will travel to UNCG (Sept. 25-26), Chattanooga (Oct. 16-17), The Citadel (Oct. 30-31), and newcomer Tennessee Tech (Nov. 6-7). The home back-to-backs include Samford (Oct. 1-2), Furman (Oct. 9-10), Mercer (Oct. 22-23), and ETSU (Nov. 13-14).

The lone exception to this is the league home-and-home with Wofford as the two play Oct. 6 in Spartanburg and Oct. 27 in Cullowhee.

Catamounts in SoCon Openers:
The Catamounts have earned a win in their league-opening match in each of the last seven years, with their last defeat coming at the hands of ETSU in 2018. During its current seven-match win streak in SoCon openers, WCU has defeated UNCG, The Citadel three times, ETSU twice, and Samford.

Entering This Week's Open to SoCon Play:
Boney leads the SoCon and ranks sixth nationally with 495 total assists, 49 more than anyone else in the conference. She is also fourth with an average of nine assists per set. Zudans starts the Spartan double tied for ninth in the league with 137 kills.  

Sharp paces the league with 58 total blocks, seven more than second place, and is third in rejections per set at 1.05. She is also top 25 in the NCAA in blocks, while Boney checks into the weekend eighth in the SoCon with 38 stops and begins SoCon play second in the conference with 21 service aces, three off the conference top spot. Gurley leads the league with 230 digs and is also top 15 in the NCAA in digs through this point in 2026. Her 4.18 digs-per-set average ranks fourth in the SoCon.

As a team, WCU ranks second in the SoCon in kills (623), assists (580), and blocks (102); first in digs (838); and second in service aces (82), while leading the conference in sets played (55), tied for sixth nationally in sets played. The Catamounts are fourth nationally in digs entering the opening of league play.

Catamount Career Record Watch:
Boney ranks ninth in the program's record book for career assists after her strong showing in nonconference play. Earlier this year, she became the 12th player in school history to reach 2,000 career assists, sitting with 2,386 assists. Boney needs 420 helpers to move into eighth in program history and pass Shari Harder (2000-03), who had 2,806 in her WCU career.

SCOUTING UNCG (7-4) – 2025 RPI 190
The Catamounts and Spartans open SoCon play for the sixth time in each school's history, with the Catamounts leading 3-2 in head-to-head meetings to open the league schedule. WCU leads the all-time series with UNCG 37-30, though the Spartans have won three of the last five in the all-time series to snap the Catamounts' four straight wins in 2022 and 2023.

UNCG (7-4) enters Friday's tilt on a two-match win streak with five-set victories over George Mason and Delaware State to close out nonconference play. The Catamounts and Spartans have two common opponents in Appalachian State and Clemson, as both squads fell to Clemson. UNCG swept the Mountaineers, while WCU fell in four sets.

Junior outside hitter Allie Sweet leads the Spartans with a SoCon and NCAA-best 212 kills. She's posted six double-doubles, including an impressive 36-kill, 17-dig double-double against Delaware State last time out, which marks the most kills by any player in the NCAA in a five-set match. Sweet also leads the NCAA in points (246.5) and is second in total attacks (606).

Classmate and fellow outside hitter Kendall Lanclos has 144 kills, as she's eclipsed double-digit kills in 10 straight matches with a season-best 20 against Delaware State. Senior Izora Gragg leads the Spartans and ranks second in the SoCon with 446 assists, including a pair of double-doubles and four matches with 47 or more assists.

The Spartans are third in the SoCon with 77 service aces led by Sweet with 19 and Lanclos with 15, while Gragg rounds out the trio with 13 aces.

Junior defensive specialist/libero Chloe Nussbaum leads the team with 162 digs, followed by Sweet with 127. Nussbaum has had double-figure digs in all but one match in 2026, with a double-double  of 18 digs and 10 assists last time out. Sophomore middle blocker Connore' Siler-Nixon leads UNCG with 50 rejections, ranking third in the league.  

UNCG is led by first-year head coach Trent Dunahoo, who served on the UNCG staff as an assistant coach since January 2023 before being promoted to head coach this past March. UNCG was tabbed fourth in the 10-team Southern Conference Preseason Poll, while Sweet was named to the league's eight-player all-conference team.

What's Next for the Catamounts:
After Saturday's match in Greensboro, Western Carolina begins its home side of Southern Conference play, with a visit from Samford beginning on Thursday, October 1 for the front end of the back-to-back with the Bulldogs.

Both matches are slated for a 6 p.m. start, and feature a color theme. Thursday's match is "Dig Pink," to raise awareness for breast cancer, followed by a 'Purple Out' on Friday.

Friday's match will air on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), and live stats will be available for both contests 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).