The William and Mary volleyball team fell Saturday morning in a bitterly-fought five-set match with Campbell, 3-2.  The Tribe moves to 1-1 on the weekend with the results, while the Camels improved to the same mark.  The match was played as part of the season-opening Tribe Invitational, and was followed by a 3-0 win by Northern Arizona (2-0) over San Jose State (0-2).

Box Score

All but two of W&M's 17 players saw action in the marathon contest, led by senior libero Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.).  She tied her career-high with 31 digs, a performance that also ranks 10th in school history for a single match, and surpassed the 1,000 dig plateau at the end of the first set.  Alasomuka also had seven assists and a service ace.  Other impressive performances defensively included freshman setter Paige Lucas (Asheboro, N.C.), who had her second-straight double-double with 28 assists and 19 digs, and freshman defender Gabrielle Pe (Virginia Beach, Va.), with 14 digs.

Redshirt-junior Paulette Grand Pre (Laguna Beach, Calif.) once again provided a leadership role off the bench, tying for the team lead with 11 kills, and also contributing 12 digs and two blocks for the double-double.  Classmate Monika Stanciauskas (Wheaton, Ill.) led the team with five blocks, while playing in just three sets.  Other notables included fifth-year senior Jaclyn McKenna (Huntington, W.Va.), who matched Grand Pre with 11 kills and hit a team-best .290 with a pair of blocks.

Sophomore Dessi Koleva (Torrance, Calif.) had seven kills and 11 digs, and classmate Carolyn Albright (Raleigh, N.C.) chipped in with three blocks.  Redshirt-freshman Michelle Heath (Rustburg, Va.) had nine kills and seven digs, and sophomore Mallory Brickerd (Ashburn, Va.) had seven kills on a .273 attack.  Freshman Stephanie Paul (North Bethesda, Md.) rounded out the notables with 11 assists and five digs while rotating in with Lucas.

W&M claimed the first set behind a late run to force extra points, staving off two set points at 24-23 and 25-24.  Paul fed Heath on each of the next two serves for a kill, earning the 27-25 win.  Heath had six kills total in the set, and McKenna had four with no errors on nine attempts.  The second set was almost the precise opposite late, with Campbell able to come away with the 26-24 win to tie the match.  The Camels' momentum carried over into the third set, a 25-19 win for the visitors that put the pressure on the Tribe to respond and force the tiebreaker.

The Green and Gold proved up to that challenge, recovering from a late Campbell run to tie the set at 22-22.  McKenna and freshman Kristen Larrick (Bethesda, Md.) deliverd on a block to edge in front, and Larrick followed up with a kill to put W&M at set-point.  The Camels were able to end for ne more rally, but a service error gave the Tribe a 25-23 victory.  Brickerd led the way with four kills and no errors in the set, with Larrick and McKenna nabbing three apiece with no mistakes as the Tribe hit .235 (14-2-51).

Campbell opened the fifth and deciding set with an early tear, racing in front 9-3, but W&M responded with an 8-3 effort of its own to close the margin to one at 12-11 after a kill by McKenna.  Unfortunately, the Camels came right back with a kill, and a service ace and a block for the visitors put an end to the come-back bid.

William and Mary returns to the court tonight at 7 p.m., taking on Northern Arizona in the tournament finale.