WILLIAMSBURG - The William and Mary volleyball team met with heartbreak again Saturday night, falling 3-2 to Georgia State in an extra-point fifth set. The Tribe now stands 9-12 overall and 3-6 in the Colonial Athletic Association, while the Panthers improved to 11-12 and 5-4 in league play.

Box Score

Sophomore Gina Lang (Valparaiso, Ind.) led the Tribe on the night with 14 kills and a career-best 18 digs, and added three blocks and an ace. Senior Erin Skipper (Yorktown, Va.) also scored 14 kills, and had 15 digs as well. Classmate Ginny Bray (Cary, N.C.) had a match-high eight blocks to go with 12 kills, and surpassed 1,000 points in her career with her first kill on the night.

Also notable was the performance of senior setter Cassie Crumal (Castle Rock, Colo.), starting with a double-double of 48 assists and 10 digs. She also had a pair of services acces, and had four kills against no errors. Freshman Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.) had 23 digs and three assists on the night, and fellow back-court specialist Delaney Gordon (Walnut Creek, Calif.) added 15 digs of her own.

The first set seemed to set the tone of the night, pushing into extra points before Georgia State was able to claim a 29-27 win. Both Skipper and Bray had five kills to try and claim the set, while Alasomuka and Lang had seven digs and six digs, respectively. The Panthers also claimed the second set, 25-18, in an effort that was keyed by a 7-0 run early that allowed the visitors to take control.

Coming out the intermission, W&M responded with a gutsy, workmanlike effort that pieced together a 25-21 win. The Tribe had few runs longer than two points at any one time, but was able to consistently put up bigger runs than the Panthers and build towards victory. Lang and Skipper each had three kills, as did sophomore Shaylin O'Connell (Leesburg, Va.), checking in to help spark her team. The College was also able to claim the fifth set, this time jumping out big early with an 8-1 run to go with a 3-3 tie to an 11-4 lead. W&m was also able to take advantage of a 4-0 run that opened the lead to 17-9, after Lang rocketed a kill into the backline, and followed up with two blocks (one of them solo). Ginny Bray also had a pair of blocks in the set, one alongside Lang and the other a solo effort that closed out the 25-19 win for the Tribe.

In the fifth and final set, neither team was ever able to open a lead bigger than two as both teams were hungry for the win. Down 10-12, the Tribe was able to get three straight points on a Bray kill and block from Bray and Skipper, going up 13-12. A GSU kill knotted the match at 12-12, before Skipper picked up a kill to set up match-point. The Panthers responded with two points, however, a turn that W&M matched with another kill from Skipper putting W&M up 16-15. After a Georgia State timeout, the visiting team was able to close things out with the final three points to take the set 18-16 and win the match.

William and Mary heads to Hofstra and Northeastern next weekend, facing the Pride at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 29, before taking on the Huskies Saturday night at 7 p.m.