The William and Mary volleyball team went down to Hampton on Tuesday night to face one of the nation's top offensive teams, and put on quite a show of its own before being edged, 3-2.  The Tribe is now 4-11 on the year, while the Pirates improved to 6-7 overall.

Box Score

W&M had several outstanding individual performances on the night, led by sophomore Mallory Brickerd's (Ashburn, Va.) 23 kills on a .353 attack.  It was the highest single-match kill total for the Tribe since 2009.  Also making history was redshirt-junior Monika Stanciauskas (Wheaton, Ill.), who had four service aces to go with nine kills, seven digs, and four blocks.  Her four aces are tied for the sixth-best ever in a five-set match.  Freshman Paige Lucas (Asheboro, N.C.) had another service ace, but more impressively a career-high 60 assists, which is tied for the 14th-best mark in school history.

Also of note, sophomore Dessi Koleva (Torrance, Calif.) picked up a double-double with 15 kills and a team-best 19 digs, to go with two additional blocks.  Junior Liz Brown (Ellicott City, Md.) hit .312 with 13 kills, and Carolyn Albright (Raleigh, N.C.) added five more kills to go with a block.  On defense, redshirt-junior Paulette Grand Pre (Laguna Beach, Calif.) had 18 digs, and senior Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.) added 17 more.

In the first set, the Tribe found itself down by as many as four late, at 21-17, but raced back to forge a tie at 23-23 on three consecutive kills from Brickerd.  Brickerd added two more kills to fend off set-points at 24 and 25, before Hampton was finally able to claim a 27-25 victory through the service game.  Brickerd had 10 of her kills in that impressive first set alone, while Lucas dished out 20 assists.  In the second set, W&M was the team that got out in front big, by as many as seven at 18-11, and withstood a late Pirates charge to claim a 25-22 victory and even the match at a set apiece.  Brickerd had another six kills in the effort, while Koleva added four more.

After the intermission, the third set played out in almost mirror fashion, with Hampton taking a large lead in the teens before W&M was able to charge back into contention.  The Pirates would eventually take the set, 25-22, behind eight kills from NCAA leader Vendula Strakova.  In the fourth set, Koleva had six kills and Stanciauskas three blocks to lead W&M to a 25-19 victory, and force the fifth-set tiebreaker.  Hampton was able to claim momentum early in the fifth set, however, and held on for the 15-7 win and take the match.

William and Mary returns to the court on Friday night, opening Colonial Athletic Association play at James Madison.