Greenville, S.C. – Neci Harris had a game-high 18 kills, and
Mikaela Schultz recorded her third straight double-double, to lead the Furman volleyball team to a 3-1 (17-25, 25-16, 25-18, 25-19) victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts in SoCon action Sunday evening inside Alley Gymnasium.
Furman improves its record to 4-5 on the season and 4-5 in conference play, while Western Carolina drops to 5-7 overall and 5-5 in the league.
Harris recorded her 18 kills on .390 hitting, while Schultz compiled a career-high 16 and
Courtney Hoffman added 15. Schultz picked up her third career double-double after contributing 13 digs.
Katie Murphy dished out a season-high 54 assists.
Andrea Aceveda led all players with 20 digs.
Maya Mrus collected a career-high 15 digs and
Sarah Turner tallied 14.
Merry Gebel had a team-high 10 kills for the Catamounts to go with eight digs. Hannah Price registered a double-double of 31 assists and 10 digs. Destinee Dorsey and Julia Gordon had 14 and 12 digs, respectively.
The teams traded the opening eight points of the first set when Murphy tied the score at 4-4 with her kill. Western Carolina broke the set open with an 11-3 run and took a 15-7 lead when Johnna Robinson connected on a kill. The Paladins responded by trimming their deficit down to 16-13 following a Catamount attack error. Western Carolina closed out the set on a 9-4 run to win 25-17.
Furman scored four of the first five points in the second set as Mrus made the score 4-1 with her solo block. After the Catamounts evened the score at 5-5, the Paladins would go on a 5-0 run and led 10-5 off a bad set by Western Carolina. Furman outscored the Catamounts 10-6 after that and took a 20-11 lead on a kill by Mrus. Schultz gave the Paladins their largest lead of the set at 24-14 with her kill. Furman earned the 25-16 victory three plays later on a Western Carolina attack error.
The Paladins started the third set on a 10-4 run and took a six-point lead after Schultz's kill. The Catamounts got to within 12-7 midway before Furman broke the set open and took a 19-11 lead on Murphy's kill. Western Carolina rallied late with five consecutive points and trailed 19-16 on a Paladin attack error. Furman recorded six of eight points down the stretch to win 25-18 following a kill from Hoffman.
The Paladins collected six of seven points to begin the fourth set when Schultz's kill gave them a 6-1 advantage. After the Catamounts cut their deficit down to 8-5 on Makenzie White's kill, Furman extended its lead out to 14-7 capped by Murphy's service ace. Western Carolina came back with a 5-1 run and trailed 15-12 off a service ace by Noelle Soldo. The Paladins answered with a 6-2 run of their own to go ahead 21-14 capped when Harris recorded back-to-back kills. The Catamounts got as close as 21-18 late but were held to just one point the rest of the way. Schultz and Murphy combined for three kills over Furman's final four points. A Western Carolina attack error gave the Paladins the 25-19 set win and 3-1 match victory.
Furman concluded the match hitting a season-high .238, surpassing its previous mark of .230 on February 28 versus UNC Greensboro. The Paladins held a 66-41 advantage in kills, 62-38 in assists and 71-59 in digs.
Furman wraps up its series with the Catamounts on Monday evening at 6 p.m.
