The William & Mary volleyball team was down 2-0 in its match against Davidson on Saturday, but never lost faith and never lost composure as it battled back to win three-straight sets, and the match, 3-2.  The win lifted the Tribe to 6-7 on the year to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule, while the Wildcats fell to 4-9 overall.

"We had our backs against the wall with Davidson when we were down 2-0 and instead of giving up, they fought hard," said head coach Melissa Ferris after the win.  "This team keeps getting better and better and I am so proud of them.  Autumn [Brenner] did a great job running the offense and keeping the opponent on their toes.  The middles did a great job of getting up every time and swinging quickly and really attacking Davidson.  Casey [Foote] did a great job of not only attacking from the front row, but also from the back row as well.  She was unstoppable.  To top it off, Alex [Stein] and Sydney [Biniak] did a great job blocking and attacking, as well as the defenders making great plays and inspiring us with their scrappy defense.  It's been a great pre-season and we are looking forward to conference play starting this week!"

Freshman Autumn Brenner (McLean, Va.) was named to the all-tournament team after closing out her weekend with a nigh-unfathomable 64 assists, and a double-double with 14 more digs.  Brenner's 64 are tied for the 13th-most all-time at W&M, and the most since Cassie Crumal '11 had 66 back in 2007.  For the tournament, she average 11.58 assists per set, 2.25 digs per set, and 0.42 blocks per set.  Her classmate Casey Foote (Prospect, Ky.) had a double-double of her own on the night with a season-high 20 kills, W&M's first of the season, and 15 digs.

Foote was just one of five Tribe players to eclipse 10 kills on the night.  Junior Sydney Biniak (Elkridge, Md.) had a career-high 19 kills to surpass the 500-kill plateau in her career, and freshman Alex Stein (East Setauket, N.Y.) also set an all-time high with 14 kills, six digs, and two blocks on a .364 attack.  Junior Paige Humphrey (Oak Hill, Va.) tied her career-high with 12 kills, hitting .588 in the process, and picked up two more kills while Katie Primatic (Pittstown, N.J.) hit her career-high with 10 kills on a .400 attack, and had a team-high three blocks.

Others of note included libero Sara Zumbach (Franklin, Tenn.), who had 14 digs and a service ace.  Senior Gabrielle Pe (Virginia Beach, Va.) also hit an ace with eight digs, and freshman Samantha Conway (Mechanicsville, Va.) had seven digs to go with her ace.

After Davidson took the first two sets 25-23, W&M responded in a number of key must-win points to complete the come-back.  In the third set, down 14-13, Biniak made a kill to start a 5-1 run that included two more kills for the junior, and put W&M in front 18-15.  That was a lead the Tribe would never relinquish before Foote finished the win, 25-22.  The fourth-set was an absolute slug-fest, featuring 18 ties and no single run longer than three points.  One of those came with the Tribe trailing 18-16, and once again it was Biniak with two big kills in a row to even the score, before Foote and Primatic combined on the block to swing the lead irrevocably in favor of the Green and Gold.  Humphrey gave W&M its first set-point, 24-23, and its second, 25-24, before Biniak finished the win.

The fifth-set tiebreak was another tightly-fought affair, but W&M was able to take control with a 5-0 run late.  Trailing 12-9, Humphrey got things rolling, trading off kills with Foote before Biniak's 18th kill of the night gave W&M match-point at 14-12.  Two points for the Wildcats tied things up at 14-14, but Biniak came through once again for match-point #3, and the Wildcat's final effort sailed wide of the mark to give W&M the win.

William & Mary opens conference play on Wednesday, traveling to Harrisonburg, Va., to take on James Madison at 7 p.m.