The William and Mary volleyball team gave Northern Arizona its two toughest tests of the weekend Saturday night, before ultimately falling to the Big Sky powerhouse by a score of 3-0. The Tribe finished its opening weekend at 1-2 with a win over San Jose State, while the Lumberjacks improved to 3-0 and claimed the Tribe Invitational tournament title.
Box ScoreJunior
Liz Brown (Ellicott City, Md.) led the way for the Green and Gold with 10 kills, coming on a .292 attack. Sophomore
Mallory Brickerd (Ashburn, Va.) likewise continued her steady and stellar play on the season, hitting .226 with nine kills and adding in three blocks and an ace. Classmates
Carolyn Albright (Raleigh, N.C.) and
Dessi Koleva (Torrance, Calif.) also managed to generate significant stats, with Albright providing a match-high four blocks to go with four kills, and Koleva posting eight kills, 12 digs, three blocks, and an ace.
Other notables included senior
Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.), who had 18 digs and two aces. The Tribe's libero averaged 5.58 digs in the weekend's 12 total sets. Freshman
Paige Lucas (Asheboro, N.C.) had 30 assists to go with six digs, and
Monika Stanciauskas (Wheaton, Ill.) gave W&M four players with at least three blocks. Rounding out the top of box score, freshman
Gabrielle Pe (Virginia Beach, Va.) had nine digs and an ace, just missing out on her third-consecutive double-digit match.
In the first set, NAU scored on seven-straight possessions to break open a tie game and take the lead at 21-15. The Tribe was ready with an answer, however, collected a 7-3 run of its own and closing to within two at 24-22 before the Lumberjacks were able to finish the win. Brown had two kills in that closing run, which also saw the last of Brickerd's five kills in the set (against no errors).
The second set was even more nail-biting, with W&M rallying in a similar situation late (down 23-21) thanks to a block from Albright and Brickerd, the Tribe's fifth of the set. Another kill by Brown, her fourth of the set, briefly had the Green and Gold at set point before the Lumberjacks tied it again at 24-24. From there, the teams traded points back and forth, until NAU was finally able to string together a couple points and take the set 30-28. In addition to Brown's four kills, Koleva had six in the second set alone, and Albright had a hand in three of the team's five blocks. Brown continued to play well in the third set, with three more kills, but the Tribe was unable to overcome the visitors.
William and Mary hits the road for the next two weekends, playing in a pair of tournaments. Next weekend, Sept. 6-7, the Tribe heads out to Fullerton, Calif., for the Fullerton Classic. W&M will play against Gardner-Webb and the host Titans of Cal State-Fullerton on Friday, and take on Kent State and Wake Forest on Saturday.
