Box Score The William & Mary volleyball team got a big performance out of a surprising corner of the court, and rode that to a 3-2 win over UMBC on Saturday evening. With the win, the Tribe upped its record to 6-7 on the year, while the Retrievers fell to the same mark.
Box ScoreLeading the way with a breakout game was freshman
Heather Pippus (Lake Oswego, Ore.), who hit .438 with 17 kills, 20 digs, two blocks, and an ace. Her 17 kills was a season-high for W&M, and the best for a Tribe rookie since current senior
Dessi Koleva (Torrance, Calif.) had 17 in 2012. Koleva had nine kills on the night, matching those with 11 digs, two blocks, and two aces. Also with a big performance was sophomore
Sydney Biniak (Elkridge, Md.), who hit .346 with 12 kills and a block.
Senior
Mallory Brickerd (Ashburn, Va.) had nine kills, an ace, and a block of her own, and classmate
Carolyn Albright (Raleigh, N.C.) had a team-best three blocks to go with her four kills. Sophomore
Paige Humphrey (Oak Hill, Va.) also had three blocks to go with five kills, and
Sara Zumbach (Franklin, Tenn.) had nine digs and a pair of aces. Junior
Gabrielle Pe (Virginia Beach, Va.) dished out 26 assists to go with eight digs and an ace, and freshman
Katie Kemp (Brentwood, Tenn.) finished the stat sheet with a double-double of 21 assists, 10 digs, and an ace.
W&M got out in front early in the first thanks to a 7-1 run that put the Green and Gold ahead 11-7 and forced a UMBC timeout. From there, the Tribe was able to keep the Retrievers at arm's-length all the way to a 25-19 win sealed by a block from Koleva and Humphrey. UMBC returned the favor in the second set, pulling ahead by five midway through the stanza and winning 25-20, before they also fended off the Tribe for a 26-24 win in the third.
Now down 2-1 and needing a win in the fourth to stay alive, W&M responded to the challenge in a big way with one of those grinding sets that has become a Tribe calling card this season. UMBC had taken a short-lived 19-18 lead on a block, but the Tribe defense held out of the time-out and sparked a 4-0 run to go ahead 22-19. The Retrievers tried desperately to close the gap and even got within one at 23-22, but Albright settled the nerves with a kill and a UMBC error at set point sent the teams to the tiebreak.
In the fifth, UMBC had again taken a one-point edge early at 4-3, but Biniak came through with the kill and Pe served up a masterful 7-0 run to go ahead 10-4. Just like in the fourth, the Retrievers worked to get back within a point at 13-12, but W&M was able to clinch the match with the last two points, punctuated by a block from Pippus and Albright for the win.
William & Mary has now completed its non-conference schedule, and opens Colonial Athletic Association play next weekend on the road. The Tribe heads north to face defending CAA Champion Hofstra at 7 p.m. on Friday night, before continuing on to Northeastern Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
