SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford volleyball team took down the Western Carolina Catamounts in three sets (25-17, 25-10, 25-11) to start their home SoCon slate inside the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. Wofford improves to 6-7 (2-0) as Western Carolina drops to 5-8 (1-1).
Wofford dominated every statistical category on the night, notably on defense with ten blocks to WCU's two. The Terriers served up seven aces to the Catamount's one. Wofford scored more kills (39-25) and assists (38-25) while hitting .455 compared to WCU's .020. The Terriers reached the record books with their accuracy on the night, setting the fourth-best attack accuracy mark, only bested by .500 against NC A&T (9/13/2011) and Savannah State (9/9/2009), as well as .544 against Savannah State (8/7/2001).
Leading the offense was
Bradley Brown, who achieved a career-high 16 kills on an incredible .842 hitting percentage. Her mark ties for fourth in program history, matching Lauren Miller's 16-0-19 mark against Presbyterian (8/21/2015).
Chloe Smith followed with nine.
Taylor Pecht controlled the ball, finding 20 assists for the second game in a row.
Maddy Frazier was not far behind with 16 of her own.
"A big focus was getting up early so that we could beat the defense and then our setters have a really good connection with our defenders, who do an amazing job of putting the ball in the right spot," Said Brown.
With the offense setting records, the defense held their own, led by Smith and
Laney Klika with 17 and 11 digs, respectively. Brown added to her stellar night with three solo blocks and three block assists.
Annemarie Rakoski added a solo and three assists herself. With 21.5 points on the night, Brown found her way into another record list at tied-eighth most points in a three-set match.
"I think the team takes a lot of pride in our blocking," said Rakoski. "That is what we focus on a lot in practice. I also have to attribute a lot of that to our pins; they are amazing at setting up the block and talking to me constantly.
The Catamounts controlled the first five points, grabbing four to Wofford's one. The Terrier's responded with a 5-1 run to gain their first lead of the match. They would go on to retain this lead through the first media timeout. WCU kept things close, never letting the Terriers go ahead by more than two points. Just six points after the timeout, a Terrier 4-2 run made the Catamount bench call for stop. The Terriers kept the pressure up, winning the next two points, including an ace, forcing WCU to call yet another timeout. While the Catamounts would grab two more points, Wofford would clean up the first set, 25-17.
The momentum continued into the second set, seeing the opposite of the first set's opening. Points in five different ways saw the Terriers up 6-1 in the opening stretch of the set, seeing a WCU timeout as a result. Despite the stoppage, nothing seemed to be able to stop Wofford's assault, grabbing seven of the next ten points. Wofford led 15-5 in what would have been the media timeout after a Catamount service error. A powerful slam from
Annemarie Rakoski pushed the Terriers to 18-7, forcing WCU's to rethink their approach with a stoppage. Wofford pushed forward, looking for what they could not do against The Citadel, and keeping their opponent under ten points in a set. At set point, they fell just short of achieving the mark, but took the set, 25-10.
In the third set, the longest rally of the match saw the Terriers take the point but showed that the Catamounts still had fight left in them. Multiple errors from WCU saw Wofford take a 10-5 lead early. The Terriers continued to roll, making a 5-2 run, including the four last points, heading into the media timeout. Attacking errors continued to plague the Catamounts and Wofford capitalized as they went 10-4 out of the stop to finish the match.
Bradley Brown finished the game off to cap a career-high 16 kill performance with a .842 hitting percentage, 25-11.
Wofford continues SoCon play on Friday, October 3, at Samford. Action in Birmingham, Alabama, begins at 7:00 p.m.
