Cullowhee, N.C. – Lauren Haynes had a career high 21 kills on Saturday evening to lead the Furman volleyball team from two sets down to defeat the Western Carolina Catamounts 3-2 (18-25, 16-25, 26-24, 25-22, 15-12) Southern Conference victory in the regular season finale inside the Ramsey Center.

Furman, who closed out the regular season with a pair of conference road wins, improves to 8-18 for the year and 4-12 in conference play. Western Carolina falls to 17-11 overall and 10-6 in the SoCon.

Haynes was one of three Paladins to record double-doubles in the contest along with Mary Beth Headley and Sarah Turner. The freshman from Smyrna, Ga. led Furman offensively with her 21 kills on .386 hitting while adding 16 digs for her third double-double of the season. Headley contributed her eighth double-double this year on 17 digs and 16 kills after hitting .417 overall. Turner provided her team-leading 10^th double-double this season with 28 assists and 10 digs. Grainne McGrath totaled 10 kills and Ella Abraham dished out a season best 25 assists. Defensively, Andrea Aceveda had a team high 21 digs.

Bailey Hartsough and Merry Gebel both paced the Catamounts offensively with double-doubles. Hartsough led all players with 22 kills and registered 11 digs while Gebel recorded 18 digs and 11 kills. Livi Weidmann also had 11 kills. Sarah Janourova dished out 24 assists and Destinee Dorsey compiled a match high 23 digs.

Western Carolina jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the match after winning the first set 25-18 followed by a 25-16 triumph in the second.

Furman opened the third set on a 10-4 run before the Catamounts responded with a 16-4 run to sit ahead 20-14, leading to a Paladin timeout. Furman came out of the break and scored six of the next seven points to trail 21-20 when Kelsey Watkins connected on a solo block. Western Carolina answered with three of the next five points and sat at set point leading 24-22. The Paladins closed out the frame scoring four consecutive points on two kills and two attack errors. Furman won the set 26-24 following a Catamount attack error.

The teams traded the first 18 points of the fourth set before the Paladins used a 7-3 run to hold a 16-12 advantage on a Western Carolina attack error. The Catamounts would even the score at 18-18 only to see Furman score the next four points to go ahead 22-18. Western Carolina got to within one late, but the Paladins recorded three of the last four points for the 25-22 triumph. McGrath secured the set victory with her kill.

The fifth, and final, set featured a total of seven ties with each one coming in the opening 16 points. After the Catamounts evened the score at 8-8, Furman responded with a 5-2 run and led 13-10 on Morgan Cobb's kill. Chandler Parker secured the 15-12 set win, and 3-2 match victory, with her kill.

McGrath led the Paladins at the net with four blocks (three solo, one assisted) while Watkins collected three (two solo, one assisted).

Furman concludes its regular season in a tie for seventh place in the SoCon standings with The Citadel and UNC Greensboro. Due to conference tiebreaking procedures, the Paladins will be the eighth seed in next week's SoCon Volleyball Championship and host UNC Greensboro in the first round.

Stay tuned to www.furmanpaladins.com for a date and time for Furman's first round matchup.