CULLOWHEE, N.C. – After enduring an 11-0 Western Carolina run and saving triple-match point in the fourth set, the Wofford volleyball team took an 8-2 lead in a fifth set on the road and seemed poised to win its Southern Conference opener.
 
It was not to be. Western Carolina came storming back to even the tiebreak at 10, took a 13-11 lead and held off the Terriers in a scramble on the final point (21-25, 25-23, 16-25, 27-25, 13-15), Friday evening at the Ramsey Center.
 
"We just need to clean up our mistakes and learn how to close out matches," said head coach Lynze Roos. "Again, I love the fight to come back after digging ourselves in a hole, but we shouldn't be putting ourselves down there in the first place. It played out very similarly to Tuesday, and we could have come away with two wins."
 
Tuesday, Wofford went down two sets at USC Upstate before coming back to force a fifth set. The Terriers earned match point four times, but were unable to close it out and were outlasted 22-20.
 
Friday's loss drops Wofford to 7-9 overall and 0-1 to start Southern Conference play. Meanwhile, Western Carolina improved to 7-10, beginning conference play in the win column at 1-0.
 
The Terriers were led on the attack by sophomores Bella Santoro, Danni Densford and Alex Holland. Santoro put down a team-high 17 kills and completed a double-double with 18 digs. Densford and Holland were more efficient in their swings, hitting .306 and .278 with 14 and 15 kills, respectively. Another sophomore, Molly Mayo, completed a double-double, going for a match-high 55 assists with 13 digs.
 
On defense, Jessica Graham followed up a 30-dig match in Tuesday's five-setter at USC Upstate with another 30-dig performance. The senior libero now has 1,585 digs in her career, sitting just 46 back of the program's all-time record. Freshman Colleen Reilly led the block with a match-high six rejections.
 
Five Catamounts reached double figures in the kill column, led by 13 apiece from Nicole Ford and Savannah Kohlhagen. Setters Cristina Nazario and Jo-Leigh Vervelde each posted 30 assists and completed double-doubles with 13 and 18 digs, respectively. Ford matched Reilly with a match-high six blocks.
 
Western ended the match outhitting Wofford .196 to .151. The Catamounts were also good for 10 aces to Wofford's four, while the Terriers outblocked the opposition 11-9.
 
There were three fairly decisive sets of volleyball played before things got wild. Western led wire-to-wire and outhit Wofford to take the opener and the Terriers responded by never trailing in the second and outhitting Western to tie the match at a set apiece. In the third, Wofford had burnt both of its timeouts down 14-6 and trailed by as many as 10 to head into the fourth needing the final two sets.
 
Wofford controlled the early portions of the fourth set, running its offense and scoring its first eight points on seven kills and block. Momentum took a big swing the other direction with Wofford leading 9-6, as Western Carolina went on to score the next 11 points. Redshirt sophomore Alyse High finally put an end to it with one of her two kills in the match, but by the time High's kill arrived Wofford was staring down a 17-10 deficit.
 
Again, momentum shifted. Trailing 19-12, the Terriers never quit and chipped away. Still, a Ford kill earned the Catamounts triple-match point at 24-21, but the Terriers found a way to hang on. A Katie O'Connor attack sailed wide and then Graham went back to serve and found an ace to bring it to 24-23. With Graham still serving, Western continued to struggle as Vervelde and Kohlhagen were no good. Wofford surged in front and back-to-back slams by Santoro capped a 6-1 run to force a fifth set.
 
Wofford began the fifth with an overwhelming start. Holland put down five kills on Wofford's first eight points and the Terriers were cruising ahead 8-2 at the changeover. The Terrier lead was 10-5 after kills by High and Densford.
 
Once more, momentum shifted as Western dug deep and found a way to pull themselves out on their home floor. They scored five straight points to tie the set for the first time at 10 and ended an 8-1 run ahead 13-11, going on to win the match on a Ford kill.
 
The Terriers play their first of 10 home matches on the 2015 schedule on Tuesday when they welcome Chattanooga to Benjamin Johnson Arena. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.