Golden Eagles Set for NIVC Elite Eight Contest at Western Carolina

Wednesday, December 7

Cullowhee, N.C.

5 PM

Southern Miss

Western Carolina (Quarterfinals)

Golden Eagles Set for NIVC Elite Eight Contest at Western Carolina

12/6/2022 3:24:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Watch Live Stats NIVC Bracket

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss women's volleyball team continues its historic run in the National Invitational Volleyball Championships (NIVC) at Western Carolina (20-12, 10-6 SoCon) on Wednesday night. The Elite Eight showdown between the Golden Eagles (20-11, 10-6 SBC) and Catamount's is set for 5 p.m. inside the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, N.C.

Southern Miss' stay in the NIVC was extended with wins over Alabama State and UT Martin in Troy, Ala. last weekend. The win against UT Martin made head coach Jenny Hazelwood the winningest first-year coach in program history. Hazelwood also picked up 10 Sun Belt wins to give her the most by a first-year coach in conference play. The NIVC bid was the first postseason bid of any kind for the program and pitted them against the SWAC regular season champions in the opening round.

Mia Wesley (21), Cailin Demps (11) and Cara Atkinson (10) carried the Golden Eagles offensively in the 3-1 win over the Hornets. Kenzie Smith dished out 46 assists in the win and Megan Harris added 16 digs. Southern Miss then cruised to a 3-0 win over the Skyhawks. The Golden Eagles held UT Martin to a season-low four points in the first set. Atkinson (14) and Demps (10) finished with double-digit kills in the second-round win. Harris exploded for 27 digs in three sets of play.

Scouting the NIVC Bracket
Southern Miss and Western Carolina are in the bottom right corner of the NIVC Bracket. The other six teams reaming are Pacific, Drake, UTRGV, Davidson, Boston College and Xavier. The winner of tomorrow's match will be matched up with the winner of Boston College and Xavier. The semifinals will be played on Dec. 8-11 and the finals on Dec. 11-13.

Scouting the Catamounts
Western Carolina rallied from a first-set defeat to beat region-host Liberty in four sets and then secured the region championship with a 3-0 win against Toledo. Merry Gebel leads the Catamounts with 383 kills and averages 3.30 per set. Gebel is one of three players with at least 200 kills and the only 300-kill player. Western Carolina fell to Samford in the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament after beating No. 6 Mercer in the previous round. The Catamounts had notable regular season wins over Wake Forest, North Carolina State and Appalachian State.

Series History
Southern Miss and Western Carolina met one other time and it came during the 1993 season. The Golden Eagles won via a 3-0 sweep.

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