PREVIEW: Women’s Volleyball opens final week against Newberry

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College women's volleyball team has entered the home stretch of its 2024 campaign, beginning the last week of the regular season with a Tuesday matchup against the Newberry Wolves.

Weekend Pair

- The blue and white went 1-1 over the weekend, defeating Emory & Henry in five sets on Friday before taking one set in a home loss to Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday

- The victory over E&H featured multiple career highs including 42 digs by Riley Hill and 25 kills, the most by a Catawba player this season, by Sofia Beard

- Haley Moffett combined for 72 assists, dishing out a career-best 49 against the Wasps, while dropping in five kills and three blocks in a strong team effort against LR

- Sydney Wattles made 10 stops in the two-game set as well as seven digs and 24 kills on a .230 hitting percentage

Stat Leaders

- Kelcie Love tops the Catawba lineup with 170 kills (2.36 per set) followed by Beard who broke the century mark on Saturday, now sitting at 101 darts

- Moffett has distributed 378 assists in her first season in Salisbury while collecting the third-most digs with 134

- At libero, Hill is sixth in the SAC and 73rd nationwide with 4.48 digs per set as her 367 total digs and 19 service aces lead the team

- Katie Clark boasts 48 blocks (15 solo) at her middle blocker post ahead of Wattles (32) and Lauren Bodell (30)

Second Time Around

- In late September, Catawba was held scoreless in its trip to Newberry

- Catawba's .117 hitting percentage was overshadowed by the Wolves' mighty .305 as the hosts came out of the gate hitting .464 in the opening set

- Beard led Catawba in efficiency, posting a .357 night with six kills on 14 swings

- Jordan Danielson and Katrina Misra logged eight and seven kills, respectively, as Sydney McCutcheon tallied a team-high 20 assists

All-Time Series

- Catawba has defeated Newberry 44 times in the programs' 59 all-time meetings

- The blue and white have excelled on home court against the Wolves, posting a 22-5 record when hosting Newberry

- The first nine meetings in Salisbury resulted in Catawba victories with a 27-6 scoring differential

- Newberry is seeking to go 2-0 against the Catawba Indians for the first time since 2014 season

Scouting the Wolves

- Newberry has suffered 3-0 losses in three of its last four matches, coming into Tuesday's affair 7-13 with a 4-11 conference record

- The Wolves are on the bubble for SAC playoffs, needing to jump ninth-place Limestone (5-12) and eighth-place UVA Wise (5-11) to get the final spot; the Catawba Indians are mathematically eliminated from contention, but its results vs. Newberry and UVA Wise have major implications

- Samantha Shaffer leads the squad in kills, totaling 145 for a per-set average with a .171 hitting percentage

- Katy Morrison paces Newberry with 184 digs while chipping in 54 assists and the second-most service aces at 15

- Madison Watson stands fourth in the SAC and inside the top-100 list nationally at 1.03 blocks per set, compiling 66 stops including 18 solos

Follow Along

The match will be available to watch on FloSports ($) with live stats located on CatawbaAthletics.com.