The William and Mary volleyball team opened up conference play Friday night against James Madison, battling tough in every set before falling 3-0.  W&M is 4-11 on the year and 0-1 in the league, while the Dukes improved to 9-5, 1-0 in CAA play.

Box Score

Junior Dessi Koleva (Torrance, Calif.) led a re-vitalized Tribe attack with 12 kills and 13 digs, and also had a service ace.  Classmate Mallory Brickerd (Ashburn, Va.) had nine kills, and added in two blocks, and Carolyn Albright (Raleigh, N.C.) hit .667 with six kills and two more pairs.  Freshman Austyn Ames (Wichita, Kan.) had 20 assists to go with seven digs, and Stephanie Paul (Bethesda, Md.) had 13 helpers and six digs.

Also of note, freshman Paige Humphrey (Oak Hill, Va.) led all players with five blocks, and had three kills as well.  Classmate Sydney Biniak (Elkridge, Md.) came off the bench in the third set and had three blocks and a pair of kills in her limited appearance.  Redshirt-sophomore Michelle Heath (Rustburg, Va.) had six kills and a pair of blocks, and freshman Sara Zumbach (Franklin, Tenn.) chipped in defensively with 10 digs.

The Tribe stayed right with the Dukes in every set, combining for 15 ties and eight lead changes.  In the first, a 4-1 Tribe run sparked by a block from Humphrey tied things at 12-12, and another 5-1 run a bit later re-knotted the score at 18-18 before JMU pulled away late for a 25-21 win.  The second set saw ties at every point from 13-13 up to 19-19, before a similar finish put the visitors up 2-0.  In the third, JMU leapt out to an early lead 8-3 before a 7-4 Tribe run chopped it down to 12-10, capped by a pair of blocks from Albright and Biniak.  The Dukes would end up pulling away in the end, winning the set and the match 25-19.

William and Mary has the rest of the weekend off, but will face three CAA opponents at home next week starting Wednesday against UNCW.