Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball plays seven of its next 10 matches on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center, opening Thursday evening with the first of back-to-back Southern Conference matches against the Samford Bulldogs, both scheduled for 6 p.m. start times.
Thursday's match has been dubbed the squad's 'Dig Pink' match, with fans encouraged to wear pink to the game in raising awareness of breast cancer throughout October. Friday's color themes continue with fans encouraged to wear purple to the game.
Admission for all home matches in the Ramsey Center is free.
Friday's match will be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats for both matches linked below and at CatamountSports.com.
Matchday: Samford (5-7, 2-0 SoCon) vs Western Carolina (4-11, 0-2 SoCon)
Date: Thursday, Oct. 1
Time: 6 p.m.
Site: Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, NC)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
Twitter: @CatamountVB
Date: Friday, Oct. 2
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
From the Service Line:
The Catamounts begin October looking to rebound from back-to-back SoCon defeats on the opening weekend of league action at UNCG. The Spartans earned a straight-set and a four set victory last week at Bodford Arena.
WCU senior Zoe Zudans led the Catamount attack in both matches with a team-best 28 kills, including a season-best 18 kills on Saturday afternoon. Freshman Ashlyn Cobb totaled 21 kills, with 17 kills from sophomore Tatum Sharp. Senior Katie Boney dished out 71 assists over the two matches, including 42 on Saturday. Sharp led the Catamounts at the service line with five aces. Sophomore Elise Gurley led the Catamounts defensively with 31 digs, while Boney paced the Purple & Gold with seven blocks, followed by six rejections from Sharp.
Entering This Week's SoCon Home-Opening Double:
Boney leads the SoCon and is sixth nationally with 566 total assists, ranking fourth with an average of 9.13 assists per set. Zudans starts October eighth in the league with 165 kills.
Sharp ranks second in the league with 64 total blocks and is third in rejections per set at 1.03. She is also among the national leaders in blocks. Boney checks in third overall in the conference with 21 service aces. Gurley starts Thursday's action second in the league with 261 digs and is also top 15 in the NCAA in digs through this point in 2026. Her 4.21 digs-per-set average ranks third in the SoCon.
As a team, WCU ranks second in the SoCon in kills (711), assists (661), and is third in blocks (112); first in digs (925); and second in service aces (92), while leading the conference in sets played (62), tied for sixth nationally in sets played. The Catamounts are tied for fifth nationally in digs as October opens.
Catamount Career Record Watch:
Boney ranks ninth in the program's record book for career assists after her strong showing throughout 2026. Earlier this year, she became the 12th player in school history to reach 2,000 career assists, sitting with 2,457 assists. Boney needs 350 helpers to move into eighth in program history and pass Shari Harder (2000-03), who had 2,806 in her WCU career.
Scouting Samford (5-7, 2-0 SoCon) – 2025 RPI 186
Samford (5-7, 2-0 SoCon) enters the week on a three-match win streak with a trio of four-set wins over UAB before back-to-back wins over ETSU. The two teams have one common opponent in Jacksonville State, as both squads earned four-set wins over the Gamecocks earlier this season.
Senior outside hitter Ally Cordes leads the Bulldogs with a team-best 168 kills, seventh in the SoCon and just two kills from tying for the top five in the conference. She's posted six double-doubles, including an impressive 31-kill performance in a five-set win over Belmont. Cordes ranks among the nation's leaders, averaging 12.09 attacks per set.
Freshman outside hitter Maggie Kalisz has 107 kills, finishing with double-digit kills seven times. Redshirt freshman Alison Ohlinger paces the Bulldogs with 469 helpers, fifth in the league. Ohlinger also leads the league with 9.98 assists per set, recording six double-doubles for Samford, along with five matches with 44 or more assists.
Ohlinger leads a quartet of Bulldogs in double figures with double-digit aces, recording the eighth-most in the league with 17.
Cordes leads Samford with 134 digs, one of four Bulldogs over 100 digs this season, followed by junior Brianna Hamilton (127), sophomore Brooklyn Drumwright (124), and Ohlinger (105). Samford leads the SoCon in blocks (121) and blocks per set (2.57), led by freshman Hazel Slusher, who has a conference-best 66 blocks.
Keylor Chan is in his 11th season as the Samford head coach after spending 16 seasons at Northwestern. He made his debut in the coaching ranks at Furman. Last weekend, Chan became Samford's all-time winningest coach, now with 171 career wins with the Bulldogs.
Samford was tabbed sixth in the 10-team Southern Conference Preseason Poll, with Cordes named to the league's eight-player all-conference team.
Series History:
The Catamounts and Bulldogs have played 45 times before Thursday's opener in Cullowhee, with Samford holding a commanding 36-9 lead in the all-time series. WCU looks to snap an eight-match slide to the Bulldogs on Thursday as the Catamounts seek their first win since Sept. 23, 2022, in Cullowhee. Samford is 13-4 all-time in matches contested in Cullowhee.
What's Next for the Catamounts:
After Friday's match in Cullowhee, Western Carolina returns to SoCon play on Tuesday, Oct. 6, in Spartanburg against Wofford for the front end of a home-and-home. The two teams play the return meeting in Cullowhee on Oct. 27, as the only non-back-to-back matchup this SoCon season.
Tuesday's matchup with the Terriers 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).
