The William & Mary volleyball team once again rose to the level of its competition Saturday night at home, pushing league-leading Northeastern to the brink and a bit past before being edged in extra points in the fifth set, 3-2.  The Tribe moves to 8-15 on the season and 2-8 in the Colonial Athletic Association, while the Huskies remained atop the league table at 18-6 overall and 8-2 in the CAA.

Highlighting the night's performance for W&M was junior Sara Zumbach (Franklin, Tenn.), who became the fastest player in school history to reach 1,000 career digs.  Needing 20 coming into the night, she ended up with 23 to become the ninth player ever at W&M to reach the milestone.  It came in Zumbach's 72nd career match, three fewer than all-time record-holder Kathleen Hawley '06 took when she became the only other player to reach 1,000 digs in her junior year.

That was one of a number of strong defensive performances for the Tribe on the night, as the team totaled 88 digs and 14 blocks.  Junior Paige Humphrey (Oak HIll, Va.) led all players on the night with a career-high nine blocks, and also set her career-high with 14 kills.  Classmate Sydney Biniak (Elkridge, Md.) had five more blocks to go with five digs and a team-best 16 kills, and senior Kristen Larrick (Bethesda, Md.) had another five blocks and nine kills to go with a career-high four digs.

Sophomore setter Katie Kemp (Brentwood, Tenn.), meanwhile, set career-highs in every category but aces, with 53 assists, 18 digs, and four blocks.  She was joined in double-double land by freshman Casey Foote (Prospect, Ky.), with 12 kills and 15 digs along with two blocks.  Her classmate Alex Stein (East Setauket, N.Y.) nearly had another double-double, pairing 10 kills and nine digs to go with a block and an ace.  Rounding out the notables was senior Gabrielle Pe (Virginia Beach, Va.), who had 13 more digs and now stands just 27 away from joining Zumbach in the 1,000-dig club.

William & Mary's homestand marathon continues on Monday, playing its third game in four days when it hosts the Elon Phoenix at 7 p.m.