Volleyball Tops Western Carolina in Five Sets to Clinch Spot in SoCon Championship Game

Saturday, November 19

Greenville, SC

6:30 PM

Samford University

18-12,11-5SoCon

Western Carolina

18-12,10-6SoCon

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Western Caro.	22	25	21	25	11	2
Samford	25	17	25	10	15	3

11.19.22 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Samford Volleyball team (18-12) earned a spot in the SoCon Championship Game with a 3-2 victory over no. 3 seed Western Carolina on Saturday.

Four different Bulldogs logged double-digit kills, with Kenya McQuirter's 18 serving as the game-high. Gracie Lynn Butler recorded 14 kills and eight digs while Kate Wonus posted 11 kills with a .476 hitting percentage. Greer Golden added 10 kills.

Kate Morgan led a trio of Bulldogs that registered double-digit digs with 23. Lauren Deaton finished with 15 kills and eight digs while Andie Salasky notched 11 digs.

Kayla Keshock dished out 31 assists on the night while Samantha Horn facilitated 22.

The Bulldogs took advantage of a 4-1 run in the first set to climb out to a 10-5 lead. The Catamounts battled back to trim the Bulldogs' lead to 11-10, but Samford continued to apply the pressure with another 4-1 run later to go up 19-14. After going up 23-19 following a kill by Wonus, the Bulldogs held off a late WCU charge to take the first set 25-22.

WCU took control of the second set by jumping out to an 11-2 lead. Samford slowly worked its way back to make it 22-16 after a kill by Golden, but it would prove to be too tall a task as the Catamounts claimed the set 25-17.

In set three, the Bulldogs used a quick 3-0 run to go up 12-9 and took control of the set with a 4-0 run that put them up 23-18. Butler sealed the third set with a powerful kill to give the Bulldogs a 25-21 win.

The Catamounts scored the first five points of set four and eventually took a 12-3 lead. WCU extended its lead to 23-9 before claiming the set, 25-10.

The Bulldogs created separation in the fifth set with a 5-0 run that put them up 9-4, with back-to-back aces from Sarah Hayes Farley highlighting the scoring spree. WCU battled back to make it 12-11, but the Bulldogs answered by scoring the final three points needed unanswered. Morgan put a bow on the match by dropping in her third ace of the evening for the 15th point.

Samford will take on no. 8 seed and host institution Furman on Sunday, Nov. 20 for the SoCon Championship. Match time from Timmons Arena is slated for 3:00 p.m. (CST)

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