WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary volleyball team concludes a four-match road swing with a mid-week visit to in-state rival VCU today at 7 p.m.
Scouting the Tribe
W&M opened the season with a 1-3 start at the East Carolina Invitational in Greenville, N.C., on Aug. 25-26. The Tribe received exceptional play from its freshman class and senior
Sydney Biniak was selected to the All-Tournament Team. Biniak finished opening weekend with 3.40 kills per set on a .235 attacking percentage. Rookie
Lauren Moussaid also recorded her first career double-double (12 kills, 11 digs) in a 3-1 win over Georgia State. Classmate
Julia Brown also produced an impressive debut, racking up 17 kills and 10 total blocks over the course of the tournament.
Scouting the Rams
VCU earned a 2-1 start during its opening weekend at the Texas A&M invitational. As a team, the Rams generated 12.00 kills per set on a .237 hitting percentage, 10.70 assist per set and 11.70 digs per set. VCU was paced by Tori Baldwin and Vicky Giommarini as both players tallied 25 kills each. Jasmin Sneed also denied 14 total attacks, including three solo stops.
Series History
W&M and VCU will meet for the 81
st time in series history this evening. The Rams lead the all-time series by a slim margin of 41-39. In the previous meeting, the Tribe dropped a five-set thriller as the Rams dug themselves out of a 2-0 deficit.
Casey Foote led the way with a double-double effort behind 13 kills and 16 digs.
Last Timeout
The Green and Gold held off Georgia State for a 3-1 win in its final match of the ECU Invite on Aug. 26. The Tribe registered a .303 attack percentage by totaling 54 kills in 119 attempts with just 18 errors. On the other side of the net, GSU could only muster a .187 hitting percentage against the Tribe defense. The Green and Gold also won the blocking battle 6-to-4 and landed six service aces. Biniak led all players with 17 kills, adding a service ace and assisting on a pair of blocks.
Noteworthy
- Biniak's All-Tournament nod at the ECU Invite was the first of her career. She also improved to third-all time in the school's all-time kills list (716) in the current scoring era.
- Junior Katie Kemp and sophomore Autumn Brenner shared duties at setter in the season-opening tourney. Brenner posted 53 assists and Kemp was right behind her with 47.
- Five of the six freshmen competed in all 10 sets to start the year.
- First-year player Kate Dedrick made a splash for the Tribe in her three appearances last weekend. She collected 20 kills and six total blocks, assisting on five and making a solo effort.
- Brown recorded a solo stop in every match to begin 2017 averaging 1.00 block per set. Her blocking median ties fourth in the Colonial Athleitc Association.
- Rookie Taylor Heishman turned in the best stat line of her young career against Georgia State. She made every attack attempt count after finishing 5-for-5 with no errors, while also contributing on a pair of blocks.
