Volleyball Falls To Western Carolina In Five Sets

Friday, October 23

Cullowhee, N.C.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

13-10,7-4SoCon

Western Carolina

9-15,5-6SoCon

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Mercer	25	16	24	25	11	2
Western Caro.	21	25	26	21	15	3

Sarah Frager Serving, @ Western Carolina Friday Recap

10/23/2026 10:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Ben Kinealy, Kinealy_ben@mercer.edu

CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Mercer Volleyball drops the second match to the Western Carolina Catamounts on Saturday in five sets.

MATCH SUMMARY
FINAL SCORE	Mercer 2, Western Carolina 3 (25-21, 16-25, 24-26, 25-21, 11-15)
RECORDS	Mercer 13-10, 7-4 SoCon; Western Carolina 9-15, 5-6 SoCon
ARENA	Liston B. Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, N.C.)

MATCH REPLAY
SET 1 I 25-21	The Catamounts took control of the early parts of the first set, taking a 7-3 lead before Mercer responded by earning five of the next six points to tie the set at eight. After dropping the next point, the Bears went on a six-point run to go up 14-9. Western Carolina fought back, taking seven of the next eight points to take a 16-15 lead. The Catamounts held a slight advantage at 18-20 heading into the homestretch of the first set, but Mercer fired back, taking seven of the final eight points, including the last five to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
SET 2 I 16-25	Mercer and Western Carolina exchanged the first four points of the match before the Catamounts earned the next seven points to go up 9-2. The Bears fought back to bring the score to 7-11 before Western Carolina took the next four points to reestablish their lead at 15-7. The two teams exchanged points and Mercer could not fight their way back, as the Catamounts took a 25-16 set two victory.
SET 3 I 24-26	The Bears and Catamounts went back-and-forth to start the third set, as Mercer had a 7-6 lead before Western Carolina earned the next four points to go up 10-7. Mercer clawed their way back, tying the set at 12 and going toe-to-toe with the Catamounts. Western Carolina used a late three-point run to take the advantage and had a 24-21 lead over Mercer before the Bears went on a three-point run to tie the set at 24, but Western Carolina took the next two points to take a 26-24 lead.
SET 4 \| 25-21	The Catamounts took control of the fourth set, going up 12-7 before Mercer took three straight points to bring the set to within two. Mercer later went on a four-point run to tie the set at 14, but Western Carolina reestablished a 17-15 lead. The Bears responded by taking the next five points to go up 20-17, and eventually took four of the final five points of the match to take a 25-21 set four win.
SET 5 \| 11-15	Western Carolina used an early three-point run to take a 6-2 lead and didn't let it go for the remainder of the match. The Bears used a three-point run to bring the match to within two, but the Catamounts maintained control and eventually took the fifth set 15-11 and the match 3-2.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
KILLS	Lara Matta (21), Taylor Timko (13), Avery Wilks (10), Joselynn Sanjurjo (10)
ASSISTS	Sammi Bergjans (50), Sarah Frager (6), Emily Matias-Lopez (1)
DIGS	Sarah Frager(20), Emily Matias-Lopez (17), Sammi Bergjans (14)
BLOCKS	Avery Wilks (4), Jasmine Calton (3), Joselynn Sanjurjo (1)
SERVICE ACES	Mikayla Miessler (3), Sammi Bergjans (2), Avery Wilks (1)