The William and Mary volleyball team kept its winning streak alive with a thrilling come-from-behind victory on the road Friday night, beating Hofstra 3-2 after falling behind 0-2 to start the match.  The win, the seventh in a row for W&M, lifted the Tribe to a 10-5 record and perfect 2-0 mark in the Colonial Athletic Association, while the Pride fell to 12-8 overall and 0-2 in the league.

Box Score

As fitting for a five-set match, the Tribe got production from all over the floor in securing the win.  Senior captain Molly Krull (Raleigh, N.C.) collected a double-double with 26 assists and 12 digs, and also had a pair of service aces to bring her season total to 14.  Her fellow floor-general, sophomore Carolina Rivas (Orlando, Fla.), served up 21 assists to her teammates, and also had eight digs on the defensive side of the net.  The defense was led by junior Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.), with 16 digs and an ace, while redshirt-sophomore Devin Andrews-Lyssy (Santa Rosa, Calif.) also contributed seven digs to the defensive effort.

While the two setters were distributing the ball around with great dispatch, freshman Dessi Koleva (Torrance, Calif.) was the most effective in using those sets with a team-best 15 kills on a .323 attack.  Koleva also had nine digs, and a hand in three blocks as well.  The third-year trio of Julia Swalchick (Melbourne, Fla.), Monika Stanciauskas (Wheaton, Ill.), and Paulette Grand Pre (Laguna Beach, Calif.) all contributed eight kills.  Swalchick got hers on a .500 attack, and also helped on a pair of blocks, while Stanciauskas hit .273 for the match and had four blocks.

Senior Shaylin O'Connell (Leesburg, Va.) only had four kills, but made up for it on the other side of the net with a team-high five blocks.  Sophomore Manon Murray (Greensboro, N.C.) paired five blocks and five digs, while redshirt-freshman Liz Brown (Ellicott City, Md.) had six kills and two blocks.

After Hofstra stormed out of the gate with a 25-14 win in the first set, the second set was when the College began settling in and laying the foundation for the eventual victory.  After a Hofstra kill put the Pride at set-point, 24-19, the Tribe fended off five set-points to knot the frame at 24-24 and force the home team to take a timeout.  The 5-0 run included three straight blocks from Stanciauskas, with Brown and Koleva helping on a pair each.  Hofstra would go on to win 26-24, but W&M had shown that they weren't going to stand for being swept.

In the middle of the third set, W&M used three kills form Koleva to key an 8-2 run and take the lead at 16-11.  Hofstra responded with a big run of their own, going up 21-19, but Stanciauskas and Grand Pre combined for a huge block that stopped the bleeding and began a 5-1 run that gave the Tribe set-point at 24-22.  The Pride mustered another point, but Grand Pre closed out the 25-23 win with her fourth kill of the set.  The fourth set saw a tie at 16-16, but a 7-2 W&M run busted the floodgates open and allowed the Tribe to hold Hofstra at arms-length the rest of the way to a 25-21 victory.

The tiebreaking fifth set saw Hofstra once again race out to an early lead, 7-2, but W&M's tremendous poise allowed the Tribe to whittle away at the lead slowly but surely.  Still, it wasn't until Koleva's 15th kill tied the match at 12-12 and Stanciauskas hammered down her eighth and final tally to go up 13-12 that control reverted to the College.  The Pride proved able to tie the score at 13- and 14-all, but Grand Pre took over and scored the Tirbe's final three kills to win the set 16-14, and clinch W&M's seventh win a row.

William and Mary returns to action Sunday afternoon, playing at Northeastern at 1 p.m. in Boston.  The Huskies are also 2-0 in the CAA, after beating UNCW 3-1 on Friday night.