WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Despite producing a well-balanced attack, the William & Mary volleyball team dropped the last three sets against Davidson for a 3-1 (21-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-23) decision in the final match of the Colonial Classic on Sunday afternoon. The Tribe is now 2-5, while the Wildcats advance to 5-1.
Davidson finished 3-0 during the weekend to earn the tournament championship. Senior
Sydney Biniak and sophomore
Autumn Brenner were both named to the All-Tournament team.
Biniak led all players in kills for the second consecutive match following another career performance. The Elkridge, Md., native tied her career-high 19 kills in 42 attempts with just four errors (.357 hitting percentage). Brenner recorded a season-best effort behind match-highs in 31 assists and three service aces, while also chipping in seven digs.
Sophomore
Casey Foote and freshmen
Julia Brown and
Lauren Moussaid contributed eight kills apiece. Rookie
Katie Turner notched a season-best 20 digs, while junior
Katie Kemp was just short of a double-double on 14 assists and nine digs. First-year player
Kate Dedrick also clubbed seven kills and assisted on a trio of blocks.
In a contest of two evenly matched programs, Davidson was able to gain the upper-hand in the final moments of the last three periods. Biniak and Moussaid totaled 10 of the Tribe's 18 kills in the first set, lifting the team to a 1-0 match lead. Nonetheless, W&M's game-high seven attack errors proved costly in a tight second set.
Late in the third set, Biniak crushed her eighth kill of the stanza to bring the Tribe within one point at 23-22. Nevertheless, the Wildcats claimed a 2-1 match lead on the swings of Ellie Crosley and Mason Rooney. The fourth set was another close game as back-to-back service aces from Biniak cut the Wildcat's advantage to 24-23. Regardless, Davidson ended W&M's comeback bid on a Katharin Franz spike.
Inside the Numbers
W&M topped yesterday's season-high in aces with 10 on the day. The serving performance ranks 17
th all-time in school history…Biniak and Kemp both dialed up a pair of aces…The Tribe outscored the Wildcats in points, 68-to-65 and won the digging comparison, 62-to-60…Both teams posted 51 assists each and Davidson narrowly claimed the blocking advantage, 6-to-5. The Green and Gold generated an attack percentage above .300 in the first and second set.
Notes
- Biniak now totals two All-Tournament nods on the year, while Brenner has collected three so far in her young career. Additionally, Biniak has eclipsed 10-plus kills in three straight matches and Brenner's three aces represent a career-best.
- The setback marks the first-ever loss to Davidson as W&M leads the all-time series 5-1.
- After this weekend, the Green and Gold is 29-12 in home tournaments over the past 12 seasons.
- Brown's eight kills represent a season-high and she led the team with four block assists.
- Foote recorded a season-high .389 attack percentage as she committed just one error. It's her best attacking rate since she hit .400 against Belmont on Sept. 2, 2016.
- Freshman Taylor Heishman led the Tribe with 0.90 blocks per set this weekend.
Up Next
The Tribe returns to action next weekend with a trip to Winston-Salem, N.C., to partake in the Wake Forest Invitational. The Green and Gold opens the tournament against Wake Forest on Sept. 9 at 7 PM, before concluding the event with matchups against UMES (1 PM) and USC Upstate (4:30 PM) the next day.
