VILLANOVA, PA - The William and Mary volleyball team pulled off a stunning victory Saturday morning at the Villanova Classic, downing Maryland, 3-2, for the Tribe's first win over the Terrapins since 1991. With the victory, the Tribe improves to 6-5 on the season, while the Terrapins fall to 8-3.

Box Score

The College's victory was led on both sides of the net by junior Lindsay Kresch (Moon Township, Pa.), who had 20 kills and a career-high 22 digs. Classmate Anne Dorff (Kent, Ohio) also had a very good outing, collecting six kills and five blocks in a starting role.

The senior class also showed up very well, with outside hitter Erin Skipper (Yorktown, Va.) hitting 14 kills, and adding 15 digs and a match-high six blocks. Setter Cassie Crumal (Castle Rock, Colo.) continued her outstanding weekend with 43 assists and 21 digs, and is averaging just under 10 assists per set for the weekend (78 assists in eight sets). Sophomore Shaylin O'Connell (Leesburg, Va.) accounted for 11 of the Tribe's 71 points on the day, with seven kills, two aces, and four blocks.

Rookie teammates Alexandra Ciaccio (Houston, Texas) and Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.) rounded out the Tribe's list on notables on the day. Ciaccio had a career-high day in all aspects of the attack, accounting for 11 kills on 35 attempts, and adding four digs and a block. Alasomuka returned to the libero's spot on Saturday, and had 18 digs and a trio of assists.

The first set went 25-21 in favor of Maryland, but the College showed that the match would not be a mere exercise after closing from down six at 23-17 to get within two at 23-21. The run was powered by Kresch and Dorff, who each had a pair of kills to try and pull their team into the lead. The second set was firmly in the Tribe's court from the get-go, with Kresch helping orchestrate a 4-0 run to lead things off. The Terrapins were able to chip away and tie the set at 18-18, but a Maryland service error and back-to-back kills by Kresch again ended the threat and set up the Green and Gold for the 25-21 win.

Coming out of the intermission for the third set, both teams settled in for a long, back-and-forth struggle. In fact, neither side was able to build any lead larger than three points until Maryland put together three kills to go up 20-15. The Tribe called a timeout and regrouped with a 3-1 run of their own, but the Terrapins held on for the 25-20 victory and stand at 2-1 for the match. The fourth set was even more draged out, featuring 13 ties and four lead changes, the final coming at 21-20 with the 12th kill of the set for W&M. Maryland would tie the score twice more, but a kill by Kresch and a Terrapin error finished things in favor of the Green and Gold, 25-23.

In the fifth and final set, the Tribe took advantage of a pair of Maryland errors and kills by both Skipper and Kresch to jump out to an early 4-0 lead. The Terrapins would come back to tie the set at 7-7, but could not turn the corner against W&M and Ciaccio and Kresch immediately restored a two-point cushion. O'Connell pushed the lead to three at 11-8, after scoring her seventh kill of the match and following with her second ace of the morning. After a Maryland timeout and kill to cloe within two again, Dorff shut down the Terps with a solo block and a shared block with Skipper on back-to-back points to put W&M up four, and two points from the win at 13-9. Maryland had one more gasp, but Kresch's 20th kill of the day set up match point, and Ciaccio hammered down an overpass for the final point.

William and Mary returns to action this evening at 7 p.m., facing Villanova in the de facto championship of the tournament.