WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary volleyball team will spend the next two weeks on the road, starting with a trip to Winston-Salem, N.C., to compete in the Wake Forest Invitational this weekend. The Tribe begins the tournament on Friday against the hosting Demon Deacons (7 PM), before concluding on Saturday with matches against Maryland Eastern Shore (1 PM) and USC Upstate (4:30 PM).
TribeAthletics.com caught up with head coach
Melissa Ferris and senior captain
Sydney Biniak to discuss the team's effort in the home opening Colonial Classic and look ahead to this weekend. The video feature is available through the above link or by clicking
here.
Scouting the Tribe
W&M finished its home tournament 1-2 after coming up just short in a couple matches against quality competition. Biniak and sophomore
Autumn Brenner represented the Tribe on the All-Tournament team. Biniak led the tournament behind 4.40 kills per set and 5.00 points per set, while Brenner finished second in the field with 6.30 assists per set. Freshman
Taylor Heishman contributed solid production at net as she led the team with 0.90 blocks per set last weekend. Additionally, rookie
Katie Turner did well anchoring the back court on 4.00 digs per set.
Scouting the Demon Deacons
Wake Forest opens up it home slate boasting a 4-2 mark. WF went undefeated at the Spartan-Demon Deacon Classic (Aug. 25-26), before going 1-2 last weekend at the Omni Invitational. The Deacs early season success is due in large part to their front line, which has the squad ranked 25
th in the nation on 2.81 blocks per set. The duo of Katie Moore and Caroline Kuhn are the life of the block party. Moore has assisted on a team-high 29 rejections, while Kuhn has made four solo stops and aided in 17 more.
Scouting the Hawks
Maryland Eastern Shore won four straight to claim the tournament championship at the Terrier Invitational last weekend. The win streak improved the Hawks' record to 5-2. The UMES offense has been clicking on all cylinders as the team sports a .257 hitting efficiency. Reigning Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Week Lucia Babic leads the charge with 3.14 kills per set (.315 attack percentage).
Scouting the Spartans
USC Upstate heads into the weekend 2-5 following a mid-week loss at Charlotte on Wednesday. Errors have plagued the Spartans so far as 157 of their 1010 attack attempts (.132 hitting efficiency) have been off target. The Spartans are led by Madison Haake and Kaleigh Kelley. Haake is distributing 8.69 assists per set and Kelley controls the backcourt behind 4.58 digs per set. Kelley also paces the Atlantic Sun Conference with 119 total digs.
Series History
- W&M and Wake Forest will meet for the ninth time in all-time series history on Friday evening. The Demon Deacons hold a close 5-3 series lead over the Tribe. However, the all-time record is tied at 1-1 when the teams square off in Winston-Salem.
- The Green and Gold take on UMES for just the third time in all-time series history during Saturday's first match. W&M owns a 2-0 all-time lead against the Hawks after competing in back-to-back seasons from 2008-09. Both matches went four sets and were played in Kaplan Arena.
- The tilt between W&M and USC Upstate marks the first-ever meeting between the programs. It's the Tribe's fourth inaugural matchup of the season.
Serving Up Aces
The Tribe topped its season-high in service aces in back-to-back matches last weekend. The red-hot service play began against Savannah State as the Green and Gold landed nine aces during the 3-0 victory. W&M then kept it going the next day against Davidson after dropping in 10 more aces.
Immediate Impact
Following a successful collegiate debut, the W&M freshman class continued to elevate its play in front of a home crowd during the Colonial Classic.
Kate Dedrick earned six kills on her best attack percentage (.417), while
Lauren Moussaid registered season-highs in both hitting efficiency (.385) and digs (13) to help the Tribe down Savannah State.
Julia Brown also notched a pair of aces for the second time this year. Against Davidson, Brown scored a personal-best 11.0 points courtesy of eight kills and four block assists and Turner tallied a season-high 20 digs. Futhermore, Heishman partnered on four rejections in back-to-back matches.
Tidbits
- The Tribe generated a season-best .359 attack percentage in its sweep of Savannah State. It's the team's best effort since posting a .376 effort against Gardner Webb in a 3-0 victory at the South Carolina tournament on Sept. 16, 2016.
- Biniak's .591 attack percentage (14-1-22) against SSU ranks 13th in school history. Her second-best offensive effort was a .440 hitting rate at South Carolina on Sept. 17, 2016.
- Brenner played a key role in W&M recent serving success with a career-high three aces against Davidson. She is also 30 assists away from recording the 1,000th of her career. The McLean, Va., native will become the 13th player in school history to achieve the milestone.
- Casey Foote earned a season-high .389 attack percentage as she committed just one error vs. Davidson. It's her best attacking rate since she hit .400 against Belmont on Sept. 2, 2016.
- Junior Katie Kemp collected three aces for the fourth time in her career vs. SSU. She was just one shy of her career-best four against Northeastern in 2015.
- Head coaches Toby Rens (UMES) and Jennifer Calloway (USC Upstate) have been at their post for 15-plus seasons, while Ferris and Bill Ferguson (Wake Forest) are both in their second season.
- WF and UMES have both captured a tournament crown this year. W&M's first two weekend opponents own a combined record of 9-4.
