The William and Mary volleyball team showed remarkable poise and resiliency Friday night against JMU, winning 3-2 on the strength of dominating fifth-set performance after the Dukes had won two sets in a row to force the tiebreaker.  With the win, the Tribe takes over the fourth spot in the CAA standings at 12-10, 4-4 in the conference, while the Dukes fall to the fifth-seed at 11-12 overall and 4-4 in league play.

Box Score

W&M was able to claim the Homecoming victory thanks in large part to senior Shaylin O'Connell (Leesburg, Va.), who scored a career-high 20 kills and hit .400, while also collecting five blocks.  Both her kills and blocks were the most of any player in the match.  Redshirt-sophomore Paulette Grand Pre (Laguna Beach, Calif.) picked up a double-double of 11 kills and 12 digs, hitting .417 with an ace and a block as well.  Sophomore setter Carolina Rivas (Orlando, Fla.) had a double-double of her own on the night, providing 16 assists and 11 digs to go with two service aces.

Also of note, senior captain Molly Krull (Raleigh, N.C.) had 39 assists, six digs, an ace, and a block.  Junior Julia Swalchick (Melbourne, Fla.) had eight kills on a .333 attack, and added in three digs and a pair of blocks in the start.  Redshirt-freshman Liz Brown (Ellicott City, Md.) had seven kills and two blocks.  Sophomore Manon Murray (Greensboro, N.C.) and freshman Dessi Koleva (Torrance, Calif.) matched each other with five kills, Murray pairing hers with three digs while Koleva added in nine digs and two blocks.  On defense, Devin Andrews-Lyssy (Santa Rosa, Calif.) had a match-high 16 digs, while freshman Olivia Jebb (Cornwall, N.Y.) earned her first start as the Tribe's libero and responded with 15 digs and four assists.

W&M came out on fire in the first set, riding a hot serving hand from Krull out to an 11-5 lead.  The Dukes responded with a 10-1 lead, however, and extended their lead out to 17-14 after the two teams swapped a pair of points.  The interlude proved to simply be the Tribe getting comfortable, however, as the home team picked up a 7-1 run to jump back in front, 21-18.  JMU was able to tie the set one more time with three quick points, but W&M scored four of the final five including a kill from Swalchick to close out the win, 25-22.

The second set also went to the College, but it was a much more tightly-played set, featuring 17 ties and six lead changes.  JMU took the lead late at 24-23 on a service ace, but Monika Stanciauskas (Wheaton, Ill.) scored one of her three kills to tie the score one last time, and Brown put away passes from Koleva and Rivas to seal the 26-24 win.  The Dukes would rally in the next two sets, taking them 25-23 and 25-16 to force the fifth set tiebreaker.

The scoring was a bit tentative early in the fifth, with a 3-3 tie coming after a kill by James Madison.  Koleva pounded in her fifth kill of the night on the very point, and ignited a 7-0 Tribe run that broke the set wide open.  Junior captain Alexandra Ciaccio (Houston, Texas) had three of her four kills come in the fifth set, and her efforts helped the Tribe keep JMU comfortably at a distance after the run was over.  She scored to set up match-point at 14-7, and O'Connell and Brown combined to stuff the Dukes' last-gasp effort and win the match.

William and Mary is back in action on Saturday night, hosting George Mason at 8 p.m. in Kaplan Arena.