The William & Mary volleyball team returns home this weekend, hosting three matches in four days including the annual "Dig Pink" game on Friday night at 7 p.m.  The Tribe will host Hofstra in the Friday night match-up, before taking on league-leading Northeastern Saturday at 7 p.m. and Elon on Monday night, also at 7 p.m.  Live video and live stats will be available for all three matches through TribeAthletics.com.

Dig Pink
Friday night, the Tribe partners with the Side-Out Foundation to host its annual "Dig Pink" game.  As part of the effort, W&M asks that its fan wear something pink to the match, and is also hosting a fundraiser to support a clinical treatment trial for stage 4 breast cancer patients.  Stage 4 is the most advanced and least-researched form of the disease.  To help the Tribe reach its goal, or to learn more, please visit https://giving.side-out.org/campaigns/12396, and listen to the athletes in their own words at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU74FKNuXN8.

Scouting the Tribe
W&M is 8-13 on the year, and 2-6 in the Colonial Athletic Association after the first swing through the conference.  Freshman Casey Foote (Prospect, Ky.) is the Tribe's top offensive threat with 3.06 kills per set, just ahead of junior Sydney Biniak (Elkridge, Md.) with 3.05 kills per set.  Sophomore Katie Primatic (Pittstown, N.J.) had 0.82 blocks per set, and junior Sara Zumbach (Franklin, Tenn.) is having a career year with 4.47 digs per set.

Scouting the Pride
Hofstra is tied for third in the league standings at 5-3, and 15-6 overall.  Offensively, the Pride has a double-headed attack of Laura Masciullo (3.21 kills per set) and Veronika Kostova (3.17 kills per set), while on defense, Michela Rucli and Leticia Valente control the net with 0.95 and 0.93 blocks per set, respectively.  Luisa Domingues is the top digger, with 4.3 per set.

Scouting the Huskies
Northeastern is atop the league table at 7-1 after the first half of the season, and 17-5 for the season as a whole.  Jamie Bredahl is the top hitter with 2.73 kills per set and 0.42 aces per set, while on defense Gabrielle Eyl has 5.31 digs per set and Caterina Rosander 1.14 blocks per set.

Scouting the Phoenix
Elon is 15-9 overall on the year, and tied with the Tribe at seventh in the CAA with a 2-6 league record.  Kam Terry is far and away the best attacker, averaging 3.22 kills per set, while Ally Karle is a terror at the net, averaging 1.38 blocks per set.  In the backcourt, Maddie Jaudon has 4.43 digs per set.

The Series
- W&M is 18-23 all-time against Hofstra, including 6-7 in Williamsburg.  The Tribe is looking for its first win at home since 2013.
- The Tribe is 10-14 against the Huskies and 6-5 in Williamsburg, winning each of the last two meetings in Kaplan Arena by a 3-1 count.
- The all-time series with Elon is all square at 4-4, with the Phoenix winning the last four after a four-match win streak by the Tribe to start the series.  W&M is 4-1 in Williamsburg, however, with all five matches being decided by a 3-1 score.

News and Notes
- Freshman Autumn Brenner (McLean, Va.) already ranks 16th all-time at W&M, across all eras, with 722 assists so far this season.  If she can reach 1,000 assists, it'll be just the ninth-such season ever for the Tribe, and the first since 2008.  The school, and freshman, record for a single year is 1,332 assists by Sarah Gubler '02 in 1998 (11.29 average).  Brenner is currently on pace for 997 assists, which would be the 10th-most all-time and the second-most for the current 25-pt scoring era (1,030 by Kim Mount '09 in 2008).

- Zumbach is just 39 digs away from becoming W&M's ninth 1,000-dig player ever.  She'd be just the second player to reach that milestone in her junior year, alongside all-time record-holder Kathleen Hawley '07.  At her current pace, Zumbach will reach 1,000 digs in her 73rd career match, the fastest ever (Hawley reached it in her 75th match).

- Senior Gabrielle Pe (Virginia Beach, Va.) is also closing in on 1,000 digs, just 58 away from the magic milestone.  She's just seven digs away from W&M's all-time top-10.  If both Zumbach and Pe reach 1,000 digs this season, they'll be the second pair of teammates to achieve that feat alongside Hawley and Erin Simmons '06, who both reached 1,000 in the 2005 season.

- That's not Pe's only milestone coming up.  Her first appearance this weekend will mark her 400th career set played.  Only 15 other players have ever surpassed that total.

- W&M's 3-1 win over the Col. of Charleston on Oct. 7 was the first-ever against the Cougars, and gave Charleston its first league loss of the season.

- The win over UNCW on Oct. 9 was the Tribe's 50th all-time in the series, the first school W&M has reached that milestone against.

- In the first match against Northeastern, junior Paige Humphrey (Oak Hill, Va.) made three blocks to surpass the 200-block milestone.  She's just the fourth player in the current era (25-pts per set) to reach that mark.

- Primatic's Defensive Player of the Week nod on Oct. 11 came after she averaged 1.67 blocks, 1.89 kills, and 2.94 points per set.  She had seven kills and eight blocks in the win over Charleston, and tied her career-high with 10 kills and seven blocks against UNCW.

- Brenner made 64 assists as the Tribe earned a 3-2 comeback win over Davidson at the Gamecock Invitational, tied for 13th-most ever in a match for W&M.  It was also the highest total for any Tribe player since Cassie Crumal '11 made 66 in a match in 2007.

- Brenner was named the CAA Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 19, after earning her second all-tournament nod of the season at the Gamecock Invitational with 10.88 assists per set.

- Foote earned W&M's first 20-kill match of the year in the win over Davidson.  The freshman record is 30, set in 2007 by Erin Skipper '11.

- This semester, junior Maddie Sanford (Georgetown, Texas) was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the premier national honor society for business students.  Induction is limited to the top 10% of each class at member universities, comparable to requirements for Phi Beta Kappa (which has not traditionally inducted business students).

- Against VCU, Zumbach made a career-high 34 saves.  That's tied for the sixth-most ever in a match at W&M, and the most since All-American Lindsey Pflugner '10 also had 34 in a match in 2009.

- The match against VCU was also the Tribe's "Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer" fundraiser.  W&M well-surpassed its goal of $500 dollars, raising more than $800 on the night for the Go 4 the Goal Foundation.

- The Tribe's win in the Colonial Classic was its fifth home tournament title in the last decade.  In that span, W&M is 28-10 overall in home events.

- Foote was named the MVP of the Colonial Classic, after averaging 4.1 kills, 3.6 digs, and 4.5 points per set.  Brenner was also named to the all-tournament team, with a nigh-unfathomable 12.0 assists per set, as Primatic, who hit .552 and averaged 0.75 blocks per set.

- Foote was named the all-tournament team at Belmont, after averaging 2.5 kills and 2.6 digs per set for the weekend.

- Sophomore Heather Pippus (Lake Oswego, Ore.) was named to the all-tournament team at Clemson on the opening weekend, after scoring 18 kills against both Wofford and High Point.

- The Tribe started the year with three-straight five-set matches for the first time ever.  It was only the seventh three-match stretch of its kind in school history, while the school record of four-straight five-set matches was set back in 1988.

- Brenner was named the CAA Rookie of the Week on Aug. 29, after piling up  132 assists at the Clemson Invitational.  That was more than five other CAA teams had total on the first weekend.

- Melissa Ferris is in her first season as W&M's head coach, after a very successful 18 years as an assistant coach in Division I.  Her most recent stop was at Rice, where she spent 12 years.  Ferris is the eighth head coach in school history.

- W&M earned a perfect 1000 score in the APR last year, led by the classroom heroics of Pe and Sanford, who were both named to the W&M Provost's Award list (for having a GPA over 3.5).

- If Pe plays every scheduled match this season, she'll tie the Tribe's all-time record of 121 matches currently held by Jill Hannah '98.  She can hold the record outright if W&M makes the CAA Tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons.