WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary volleyball team finishes out its 2017 campaign at Colonial Athletic Association foes UNCW and College of Charleston this weekend. The Tribe heads to UNCW on Friday, Nov. 10 (7 pm), before visiting the Cougars on Sunday, Nov. 12 (1 pm). Video stream and live stat links for both contests are available on the schedule page at TribeAthletics.com.
Scouting the Tribe
W&M (5-23, 2-12 CAA) concluded its home schedule with a pair of 3-1 setbacks against CAA tournament bound teams Northeastern and Hofstra. Freshman
Julia Brown shined with double-digit kills in back-to-back matches for the first time in her young career. The Geneva, Ill., native finished last weekend hitting .395, while also totaling 11 blocks (1.38 per set). Classmate
Katie Turner recorded a strong effort away from the net after collecting 35 digs (4.38 per set) in her eight sets played. Additionally, senior
Sydney Biniak added 23 kills to her season total (397) to rank 36
th in the NCAA.
Scouting the Seahawks
UNCW (9-17, 3-11 CAA) remains at home for the final weekend of the regular season and needs to win out in order to earn a postseason bid. The Seahawks are two matches behind Elon for the sixth spot in the CAA tournament and will meet the Phoenix (11/12) after playing the Tribe. UNCW split its matches last week after sweeping Delaware (11/2) and surrendering a 2-0 lead at Towson (11/4). Rookie Brynn Montgomery is fifth-best in the CAA behind 6.54 assists per set.
Scouting the Cougars
Preseason favorite College of Charleston (24-4, 13-1 CAA) looks every bit the part as the squad is riding a 12-match winning streak and already secured the top seed in the CAA tourney. The conference-leading Cougars will host both Elon and W&M to wrap up the regular season. Last week, CofC dropped just one game during its road trip to Towson (5/3) and Delaware (5/5). Following the perfect weekend, senior Krissy Mummey was honored with her fourth CAA Weekly Award of the season. Mummey leads the conference in hitting percentage (.417) and also ranks top ten in kills (3.11 per set).
Series History
- W&M and UNCW will meet for the 64
th time in series history on Friday evening. The Tribe has dominated the all-time series with a 51-12 mark. In the previous meeting, the Green and Gold edged UNCW in four competitive sets to earn its first CAA win. The Tribe has experienced plenty of success playing in Wilmington with a 18-5 record in the Seahawks' gymnasium.
- The Green and Gold will face Charleston for just the 11
th time in series history on Sunday afternoon. CofC holds a 9-1 all-time series lead over the Tribe. Earlier in the season, the Green and Gold pushed the projected CAA champs to four sets in Kaplan Arena. Biniak hammered 12 kills and
Heather Pippus added 10 more during the previous meeting.
Power of an Assist
Sophomore
Autumn Brenner is on the verge of replacing
Cassie Crumal '10 as the program's all-time leader in assists in the current scoring era. The McLean, Va., product needs seven more assists to become the school's active leader in the category. Brenner leads the Tribe and ranks eighth in the CAA with 5.45 assists per set. She dished out a season-high 44 helpers against Delaware and recorded three double-double performances this year.
Biniak Attack
Believe it or not, Biniak is on the cusp of making more Tribe Volleyball history heading into the final weekend of her collegiate career. With three more kills, she will become the fourth W&M player all-time and second in the rally scoring era to reach 400 in a season. Biniak can set a new school record in single-season points if she totals at least 37.5 in her last two contest. The Elkridge, Md., native will record her 200
th career block with two more and could become the seventh player in program history to exceed 1,000 kills and 200 stops. And finally, if Biniak collects at least 23 kills this weekend she will break W&M's single-season record in the 25-point scoring system.
Leading Scorer
Brown paced the Tribe in scoring last week by totaling 29.0 points (3.62 per set) through the final pair of home contests. The middle blocker registered 10 kills with five blocks against Northeastern, before posting 12 kills and six stops versus Hofstra. She has recorded double-figure kills in three of her last four matches. Also, Brown became just the fourth W&M player in the 25-point scoring era to exceed 100 blocks in a season (103).
Getting to Know Turner
The final Getting to Know video piece for Tribe Volleyball features freshman
Katie Turner as TribeAthletics.com discussed her rookie experience and off the court interest. The video piece is available below or by clicking
here. Turner leads the Tribe and ranks 10th in the Colonial Athletic Association with 3.18 digs per set. The defensive specialist also stands second on the team with a .952 reception percentage. Her top performance occurred in a five-set win over Elon (10/25) as she recorded season-highs in 27 digs and eight assists. The Parker, Colo., native followed up with 21 digs at James Madison (10/27) to exceed 20 digs in back-to-back matches for the first time this year.
