The William & Mary volleyball team was edged in a thriller of a match Tuesday night against VCU, falling in the fifth-set tiebreak 3-2.  The Tribe moved to 4-6 on the year, while the Rams improved to 5-6 overall.  The night also saw W&M participating in the Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer event, raising over $800 (more than $300 above the team goal) for the Go 4 the Goal Foundation.

"Even though we didn't come out on top, I think we showed moments of greatness," said head coach Melissa Ferris.  "Overall we struggled with passing, which made our offense predictable.  We will keep working hard and I have no doubt great things are in store for Tribe volleyball."

Leading the way for the Tribe was junior libero Sara Zumbach (Franklin, Tenn.), who made a career-high 34 digs to go with two service aces.  That was tied for the sixth-most digs in a single match ever at W&M, and the most since Lindsey Pflugner '10 had 34 against Georgia State in 2009.  Only two women, Kathleen Hawley '07 and Hall-of-Famer Heidi Erpelding '89, have ever made more in a match.  Freshman Samantha Conway (Mechanicsville, Va.) also had two aces, and a season-high 16 digs, and senior Gabrielle Pe (Virginia Beach, Va.) provided 11 more digs and an ace.

Offensively, top honors went to freshman Casey Foote (Prospect, Ky.), who had her third double-double of the last four matches with 13 kills and 16 digs.  Junior Paige Humphrey (Oak Hill, Va.) had a season-best 12 kills while hitting .323, and also had a pair of aces.  Freshman Alex Stein (East Setauket, N.Y.) added eight more kills, and Katie Primatic (Pittstown, N.J.) chipped in six kills and a block.  Rounding out the notables were Sydney Biniak (Elkridge, Md.), with nine kills and a block, and setter Autumn Brenner (McLean, Va.) who handed out 46 assists to go with seven digs, two kills, and two aces.

William & Mary returns to action this weekend, traveling to Columbia, S.C., for the South Carolina Gamecock Invitational.  The Tribe will face Gardner-Webb on Friday night, before taking on South Carolina and Davidson on Saturday to finish out the non-conference schedule.