SPARTANBURG, S.C. – In front of an electric home crowd at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Saturday evening, the Wofford volleyball team pulled together a total team effort with a plethora of career-best performances from multiple Terriers to drop the Western Carolina Catamounts (8-9, 4-2 SoCon), 25-16, 25-23, 24-26, 25-18, and erase a two-match skid in league play. The victory marks Wofford's third in the past five meetings over the Catamounts, as the Terriers move to 8-10 overall and 2-4 in the Southern Conference.
 
The Terriers put out their best offensive output thus far through SoCon action, finishing the match hitting .338 – a season-best through six league matches – while compiling 63 kills, marking the most achieved this season in a four-set match.
 
Three Terriers finished with double-figure kill totals, led by junior outside hitter Kennedy Smith with a career-best 17 kills on 42 swings (.333), while narrowly falling short of a consecutive double-double performance with nine digs on the night. Smith also matched a career-high with three services aces, in addition to a block.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Sarah Barham recorded her eighth match in double digits this season, matching a career-high 16 kills on a blistering .714 hitting with just one error, in addition to three blocks and four digs. Junior outside hitter Meghan Yaffa rounds out the Terriers in double figures with 13 kills on a career-best .423 hitting, while adding two blocks, an ace and six digs.
 
Sophomore Emily Hodsdon turned in another spectacular performance at setter, feeding the Wofford offense with a match-high 51 assists en route to securing her fourth double-double effort of the season, and 11^th of her career, with 10 digs. The Alpharetta, Ga. native's presence was felt all over, also finishing with three kills and aces apiece.
 
Sophomore libero Kaitlyn Brown was critical defensively for the Terriers, notching a career-best 28 digs while also contributing two aces and assists apiece to continue her steady consistency in the lineup over the past few matches. Freshman outside hitter Mary Emily Morgan was solid for the Terriers with eight kills and two digs, as classmate Sarah MacLean added six kills on 14 swings (.286) and two digs also.
 
Sophomore Abbey Richman recorded six digs and two assists, while Addison Foote finished with five digs and an assists on the night.
 
The Catamounts were led by Merry Gebel and Bailey Hartsough with 21 and 18 kills, respectively, as Western Carolina finished the match hitting .280 with the slight edge in kills (64).
 
Wofford capitalized on its service game, landing nine aces – tied for the second-most achieved in a match this season – while holding the dig advantage for the match, 72-67. Additionally, Wofford was solid at the net when chances arose, recording four blocks to Western Carolina's one.
 
A hard-fought match throughout the duration, despite nine and seven-point advantages in the first and fourth set, respectively, the match saw 11 lead changes and 23 tied margins over four sets.
 
The first set was played up to an 8-8 deadlock up until Kaitlyn Brown hopped on serve to land an ace. A pair of Catamounts errors ensued before a Sarah Barham kill and combination block from Smith and Barham forced a WCU timeout at 13-9. The Catamounts swiftly knotted the match at 13-13 prior to another Barham kill and a trio of Kennedy Smith points, on back-to-back aces and a kill, rekindling the advantage at 17-14. Yaffa and Smith continued with persistence offensively, as a WCU attack error burned its final timeout of the frame at 21-15. Yaffa would land an ace out of the break, as another costly WCU error allowed for kills from Mary Emily Morgan and Sarah MacLean to close the set, 25-16.
 
Western Carolina regrouped after dropping the first, coming out on the attack in the second to open with a 7-2 lead before the Terriers stormed back winning nine of the following 14 points, capped by another Kaitlyn Brown ace, to tie the match at 11-all. The two squads then exchanged points and leads up until a pair of Bailey Hartsough kills provided a 20-17 Catamounts lead at Wofford's final timeout. From there, Wofford regained life, capitalizing on errors followed by a sequence of a Kennedy Smith kill, Emily Hodsdon ace and Sarah Barham kill to deadlock the frame, 23-23. The Terriers then took matters into their own hands, seeing Meghan Yaffa and Kennedy Smith dial home the final two kills to snatch the second-set victory from WCU, 25-23.
 
The Terriers nearly finished the Catamounts in three sets, holding a 23-21 edge in the third set after a Smith kill and WCU attack error, though, Western Carolina managed to survive in pushing extra points to hold off the sweep. Tied at 23-23, Barham found the tiebreak on a vicious swing to summon set point, though, consecutive Hartsough kills then brought set point in WCU's favor, 25-24. Unfortunately, the Terriers would sail an attack high and wide on the following possession to squander the straight-set decision and send things into the fourth, 26-24.
 
From there, Wofford was determined to hold off any signs of a Western Carolina comeback, quickly jumping out to a 10-5 lead at a Catamounts timeout. Kills from Yaffa and Mary Emily Morgan continued to push the advantage (13-8), as a 3-0 run on a Barham kill, Barham/Yaffa combination block and Catamounts attack error burned WCU's final timeout of the match trailing by six, 17-11. Yaffa continued to land kill-for-kill, while points from Morgan and Smith eventually brought match point at 24-17. The Catamounts found a Gebel kill for a last-chance rally, however, Hodsdon would go on to set up Sarah Barham for her 16^th kill of the night, securing the winner to earn Wofford's second SoCon victory and end the match at 25-18.
 
Wofford (8-10, 2-4 SoCon) returns back to Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium next weekend, hosting Chattanooga on Friday, Oct. 15, and ETSU on Saturday, Oct. 16, for a pair of league matchups. First serve against the Mocs on Friday, Oct. 15, is slated for 5 p.m., while Saturday evening's matchup with the Bucs is set for 7 p.m.