PREVIEW: Women’s Volleyball welcomes LMU, Charleston to Goodman Arena on Pink Out Weekend

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College women's volleyball team returns home for two matches this weekend, facing South Atlantic Conference foe Lincoln Memorial on Friday before taking on the University of Charleston in non-league play Saturday.

Outlasting the Cobras

- Down 2-1 at set point in the fourth stanza, the Catawba Indians refused defeat with wins in the final two sets to nab their first conference victory at Coker last Friday

- Freshman outside hitter Lillie Kate Rogers shined with 18 kills, supplying Catawba with two of its last three points to swipe away the fourth set

- Rogers (18 kills, 13 digs), Haley Moffett (29 assists, 14 digs), and Sydney McCutcheon (25 assists, 10 digs) each recorded a double-double

- Katie Clark logged seven kills on 13 swings to hit .538 while tallying four block assists in a superb outing at the net

Introducing Lillie Kate Rogers

- Rogers' dazzling collegiate debut against the Cobras ranks as one of the most dominant first matches in Catawba history

- The Peach State product's blockbuster night imitated the success she achieved at Hart County High School

- In three years at the varsity level, Rogers accumulated 969 kills, 162 aces, 66 blocks, 616 digs, and 68 assists en route to First Team All-Region 8-AAA selections in each campaign

- Rogers brings a winning pedigree to Catawba as a member of the Bulldogs' most victorious graduating class

Defensive Honors for Hill

- Using a 50-dig week, sophomore libero Riley Hill was named the SAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday

- The Salisbury native followed her 16-dig performance at Carson-Newman with a new career high of 34 digs against Coker

- Hill combined for five service aces – two at C-N and three at Coker – leading the team on both nights

- In less than half the time, Hill's 13 aces surpasses her 12 as a rookie as she is currently averaging 0.33 aces per set this season

All-Time Series

- Catawba trails LMU by a four-match margin in the all-time ledger at 16-20

- The blue and white have won four straight contests against the Railsplitters, three of which occurred in five sets

- In Salisbury, the Railsplitters lead 8-7 with wins in three of the last four matchups

- LMU's last triumph in the series was on Nov. 15, 2019 in sweeping fashion

- Catawba and Charleston have met three times in program history with the Golden Eagles winning each match, holding a 9-1 set differential

- The lone contest at Goodman Arena in 2022 ended with Charleston spoiling the Catawba Indians' home opener in a 3-0 triumph

Scouting the Railsplitters

- LMU possesses an impressive 10-4 record with a 4-3 clip in SAC competition

- The blue and gray's last victim was Carson-Newman on Wednesday night as LMU snared a 3-1 conference victory to give the Eagles their first conference loss

- Kristen Moehring, a Preseason First Team All-SAC pick, finished off the win with her 1,000th career kill, maintaining her position as the SAC's top hitter at 217 kills (4.09 per set)

- Agata Bogdanska is second in the conference with 61 blocks and slots third on a per-set basis

- Head coach John Cash, in his eighth season leading men's volleyball and first with the women, has piloted the Railsplitters to their best start since 2016

Scouting the Golden Eagles

- Charleston comes into the weekend at 12-5 overall with a Mountain East Conference duel against Glenville State lined up for Friday

- Despite being a perfect 9-0 at home, the Golden Eagles are 2-4 on the road

- The programs' lone common opponent is Barton as both teams dispatched the Bulldogs in straight sets

- As a team, Charleston ranks inside the top 20 nationally with 143.0 total blocks (13th) and 126 service aces (17th)

- Emma Shepherd's 38 aces is the fifth-best mark nationwide as she also paces the Golden Eagles with 174 kills

Pink Out

- Friday's match against LMU kicks off Pink Out Weekend at Catawba, a weekend dedicated to raising awareness for breast cancer

- A donation table will be set up at the arena with proceeds benefiting both Novant Health and PinkPals NC, a non-profit breast cancer support group based in Concord

Follow Along

Both matches will be streamed live on FloSports ($) with stats transmitted in real time on CatawbaAthletics.com.