The William & Mary volleyball team heads up to Harrisonburg, Va., this weekend to take part in the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, Friday-Sunday.  The Tribe's quest for the conference title begins Friday night at 7:30 p.m. against UNCW, with the semifinals Saturday coming against Towson also at 7:30 p.m.  The championship game will be held Sunday at 12 p.m., and be broadcast nationally on the American Sports Network.

Quarterfinals - Friday, 7:30 PM - vs No. 3 UNCW
Semifinals - Saturday, 7:30 PM - vs No. 2 Towson
Championship - Sunday, 12 PM

Scouting the Tribe
W&M is 10-19 overall, and earned the No. 6 seed in the playoffs after a 4-12 CAA season.  The Tribe, playing in its 25th CAA tournament, is led offensively by senior Dessi Koleva (Torrance, Calif.) with 2.70 kills and 3.20 points per set.  Koleva is also on a serving tear of late with eight aces in the last eight sets, raising her average to 0.29 aces per set.  Defensively, classmate Carolyn Albright (Raleigh, N.C.) has 0.97 blocks per set, and sophomore Sara Zumbach (Franklin, Tenn.) is delivering 3.87 digs per set.

Scouting the Seahawks
UNCW tied for the CAA regular-season championship at 12-4 in league play, and is 21-7 overall.  The Seahawk strength is on defense, where Anna Moss (1.43 blocks per set) and Meredith Peacock (1.36 blocks per set) are the top two players in the league, and Lindsay Hartmann is collecting 4.27 digs per set.  On offense, Nicole Lott has 3.56 kills per set.

Scouting the Tigers
Towson was also part of the four-way tie at the top of the standings at 12-4 in conference play, and wrapped their regular season at 26-5 overall.  Anna Holehouse was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Year with 4.81 digs per set, while at the net Lindsay Flaherty is providing 0.86 blocks per set.  On the offensive side of the ball, three players are all averaging over 3.0 kills per set, led by CAA Rookie of the Year Jocelyn Kuilan at 3.46 kills per set.

The Other Half of the Bracket
No. 1 Seed James Madison (22-7, 12-4 CAA)
No. 4 Seed Hofstra (21-10, 12-4 CAA)
No. 5 Seed College of Charleston (18-12, 10-6 CAA)

The Series
- W&M is 49-10 all-time against UNCW, but the Seahawks have been on a tear recently with six straight wins.  That includes the last CAA meeting, back in 2013.  All told in the CAA tournament, the Tribe leads 9-1.

- The series between W&M and Towson is all even at 17-each, following four-straight wins over the Tigers.  The two have met only once in the CAA Tournament, a 3-1 Towson win back in 2005.

News and Notes
- The Tribe is making its 25th appearance in the CAA Tournament, a total that ranks second in league history behind only JMU's 28 appearances.  W&M leads all schools with a .667 win percentage (34-17) and championships won (8), while its 34 wins are second only to JMU's 35 wins.

- Albright was named to the CAA All-Academic team when the all-conference awards were announced on Thursday, her first career All-CAA award.

- Koleva is once again the only player in the league to rank top-10 in both kills and digs in conference play.  When all games are taken into account (non-conference included), she is also the only non-libero to rank among the CAA Top-10 in digs.

- W&M's two wins over Delaware this season is the first season-sweep over the Blue Hens since 2005.

- W&M had 13 aces in the win over Northeastern last weekend, its best single-match total since also having 13 against Kent State in 2011.  The last time the Tribe had more than 13 aces in a match was back in 2004, against Norfolk State.

- Albright became just the fourth player in school history with 400 career blocks this season, completing her march with two solo blocks and one block assist.  She joins Beth Ann Hull '89, Anna Agbe-Davies '93, and Caitlin Geraghty '06 as the only Tribe players to ever surpass 400 blocks, and currently ranks third all-time with 429 career stops.

- Heather Pippus (Lake Oswego, Ore.) was named the CAA Rookie of the Week on Oct. 20, after leading the Tribe to a 1-1 record against Delaware and Elon.  She averaged 3.71 kills and 0.71 aces per set on the week against the two CAA foes.  Against Elon, she had 19 kills, nine digs, and two aces, the most kills for a Tribe freshman since 2011.

- Against JMU at home, Koleva became the third player in school history with 1,000+ kills and 1,000+ digs in her career, joining Hall-of-Famers Heidi Erpelding '89 and Jennifer Torns '92 as the only players in school history with the "double-quadruple."  Koleva is also just the ninth player ever to surpass 1,000 kills, and the first since Erin Skipper '11.

- Koleva was named to the all-tournament team at the AU Eagle Invitational, her third all-tournament honor in four events this season.

- At the ECU Pirate Invitational, both Koleva and Pippus earned all-tournament honors.

- Mallory Brickerd (Ashburn, Va.) was named to the all-tournament team at Army, after leading W&M in kills, aces, and points on the weekend.

- Over the weekend at Army, Koleva became the eighth player in school history with 1,000+ digs in her career.

- After the season opening victory at the Tribe Invitational, W&M has now won five of its last eight home tournaments.

- Zumbach was named the MVP of the Tribe Invitational, while Koleva and Albright also joined her on the all-tournament team.