The William and Mary volleyball team showed extraordinary toughness Friday night, taking down Duquesne in a back-and-forth, 3-2 victory.  With the win, the Tribe improved to 3-5 on the year, while the Dukes fell to 4-3 overall.

Box Score

All five of the Tribe's non-setter starters surpassed 10 kills in the match, led by junior Liz Brown's (Ellicott City, Md.) 15 kills.  Brown also added five digs and five blocks for a team-best 18 total points.  Freshman Kristen Larrick (Bethesda, Md.) hit .316 with 12 kills, and added an impressive eight total blocks (three solo).  Sophomore Carolyn Albright (Raleigh, N.C.) also had three solo blocks and four total, to go with 10 kills and a .364 attack.

Sophomore Mallory Brickerd (Ashburn, Va.) made it three players to hit over .300, collecting 14 kills on a .333 attack, and redshirt-freshman Michelle Heath (Rustburg, Va.) had her third-straight double-double with 12 kills and 12 digs.  Freshman Paige Lucas (Asheboro, N.C.) nearly joined Heath, coming in with a career-best 53 assists, nine digs, four kills, and two aces.

On defense, senior Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.) had a team-best 13 digs to go with two aces, three assists, and a block.  Redshirt-junior Paulette Grand Pre (Laguna Beach, Calif.) had another pair of aces, while Devin Andrews-Lyssy (Santa Rosa, Calif.) and Gabrielle Pe (Virginia Beach, Va.) each chipped in with eight blocks.

The Tribe won the first set, 25-22, and the third, 25-16, after a 12-3 run.  In response, Duquesne took the second set, 27-25,a nd the fourth, 25-21, to set up the fifth-set tiebreaker.  In the fifth, the early going went W&M's way, jumping out to a 10-5 lead.  Duquesne came back into it, however, tying the match at 11-11 and 13-13.  After a quick timeout, however, Larrick and Brown stuffed the Dukes' next attack to reach match point, and sufficiently rattled the opponents that their final attack sailed wide and W&M earned the victory.

William and Mary is back in action with two matches on Saturday.  The Tribe will take on Virginia Tech at 12:30 p.m., before facing Lipscomb at 5 p.m.