HARRISONBURG, VA - The William and Mary volleyball team dropped a heartbreaker on the road Saturday at James Madison, 3-2. The Tribe now stands 8-11 overall and 2-5 in the CAA, while the Dukes improved to 16-5 and 5-2 in conference play.

Box Score

Every Tribe player who saw significant action put up notable numbers, despite the loss, with four players reaching double-digit kills and five double-double digit digs. Senior Cassie Crumal (Castle Rock, Colo.) was the team's floor general, and had a season-high 57 assists to go with 13 digs and four kills. Her 57 helpers are the second-most in the CAA this season in a single match. Freshman Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.) had a career-best four assists, and led the team with 26 digs. Sophomore Delaney Gordon (Walnut Creek, Calif.) also came on in a defensive role, and recorded 16 digs.

On the attacking side of the net, seniors Ginny Bray (Cary, N.C.) and Erin Skipper (Yorktown, Va.) tied for high honors with 17 kills each, and both hit over .350 while getting those kills. Bray's total tied her career-high, and she also had a career-best 38 opportunities while hitting .395. She also tied for the team lead with six blocks. Skipper hit .350 on the nose, and posted a double-double by adding 15 digs to her total. Skipper also had four aces on the night, sixth-most in a five-set match in school history.

Freshman Julia Swalchick (Melbourne, Fla.) earned the start and her first career double-double, pairing 12 kills with 10 digs on the night. Both of those totals were season-highs for the newcomer, who also set career-bests for attack percentage (.286), attempts (28), aces (2), and both total blocks and block assists (3). Junior Lindsay Kresch (Moon Township, Pa.) was the fourth Tribe player in double-digit kills with 14, and added six digs and three blocks as well. Classmate Anne Dorff (Kent, Ohio) started in the middle, and finished with six kills and tied Bray with six blocks, two of them solo.

Despite the disparity in the records, the night featured two very evenly matched teams that produced nearly identical totals in all statistical categories, and combined for 49 tied scores and 23 lead changes. In the first set, the margin for either team only got higher than two once, when JMU took a lead at 15-11. W&M answered immediately with a four-point run and retook the lead for the final time at 18-17 on a block by Bray and Skipper. The Tribe would have to battle through five more tied scores, but finally, at 22-22 a kill by Swalchick and an error by the Dukes put the College at set point. JMU mustered one more point, but Kresch finished things off on Crumal's 15 assist of the set.

The second set was again tight throughout, but the College took the lead even earlier and showed tremendous poise in maintaining control through to the win. A kill by Ginny Bray and another Dukes error gave the lead to W&M for the final time at 11-10, but five more tied scores awaited in the teens. The Tribe didn't have a lead greater than two until match-point, and once again it was Kresch who provided the exclamation point on the 25-22 win.

The Green and Gold opened the third set with eight straight points, but James Madison showed why they won 75% of their matches this season, and slowly chipped away at the lead to reach a tie at 19-19. The Dukes took the lead at 21-20, and after a final kill from Swalchick re-tied matters, the home team was able to scrape together four more kills to stave off elimination and win the set.

The fourth set would prove to be a marathon effort that neither team was willing to lose through 18 ties and 10 lead changes. In what was proving normal this night, the first 40 or so points saw neither team gain a decisive edge. The Tribe seemed to be on the brink of match point and the win at 23-20 on a kill by Swalchick, but the Dukes were able to once again respond and tied the match at 23-all. Kresch earned a kill to put W&M at match-point, but JMU responded in turn, a pattern that would repeat itself until the scoreboard read 30-30. Just like in the third set, James Madison was able to finally string together two kills, and sent the match into the fifth-set tiebreak.

The fifth set saw the Tribe forced to play catch-up for the first time all night, as the Dukes got ahead early with a three-point run to reach 6-2. The College began closing the gap with a series of small, tactical runs, until the score read 12-8 in favor of the home team. Swalchick was again the instigator of a Tribe run, a 4-1 swing that also saw the freshman's second ace and two blocks from Bray (assisted by Kresch on one and alone on the other) that pulled the Tribe to within one at 13-12. The final points would not fall, however, and James Madison would ultimately escape with the 15-12 win and the match victory.

After four matches on the road, William and Mary returns to the friendly confines of Kaplan Arena next weekend for Homecoming and a pair of matches. Friday night, the Tribe will host UNC Wilmington at 7 p.m., before taking on Georgia State Saturday also at 7 p.m.