WILLIAMSBURG, Va.- William & Mary volleyball is back on the road this weekend, following three straight home matches. The Tribe will visit Delaware Friday evening before traveling Harrisonburg for a date with James Madison on Sunday afternoon.
Scouting the Tribe
William & Mary enters the weekend with a 7-17 record, 3-10 in the CAA. The Tribe split last weekend's home finale matches defeating Charleston in five-sets but falling on Senior Day to UNCW. The Tribe's offense has been propelled all season by
Kate Dedrick. The junior's 260 kills are a single-season career-high and she ranks fifth in the CAA in kills per set. Senior
Autumn Brenner has commanded the offense dishing out 706 assists, fourth-best in the conference. Defensively,
Julia Brown has shut opponents down at the net averaging a team-high 1.23 blocks per set while freshman libero
Anna Porter has produced 283 digs.
Scouting the Blue Hens
Delaware will meet the Tribe boasting a 12-11 regular-season mark and a 4-8 CAA record. The Hens are coming off an 0-2 weekend in which they lost 3-0 to James Madison at home on Saturday before falling by the same count Sunday afternoon at Towson. Delaware has a trio of dynamic players that lead the CAA in differing statistics. Outside hitter Maria Bellinger has dominated opposing defenses averaging just under 4.50 kills per set. Andie Hanus is digging 4.84 attacks per set helping the Hens hold opponents to a .200 hitting percentage. Delaware has been productive from the service line ranking second in the conference with 135 aces in 81 sets, 32 from freshman Lani Mason.
Scouting the Dukes
Fresh off a 1-1 weekend that saw a win over Delaware and a loss to league-leading Towson, James Madison owns a 9-3 conference mark and is 15-7 on the season. The strength of the Dukes is unquestionably at the net where the team ranks first in the league in blocks and second in hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage. The centerpiece of JMU's net presence is freshman Sophia Davis who ranks first in the CAA in blocks with 1.38 per set and third in the league with a .380 hitting percentage. Fellow middle blocker M'Kaela White also ranks in the CAA's top-10 in blocks and hitting percentage. Savannah Marshall's 4.32 digs per set rank third in the conference while Sarah Martin distributes over 9.50 assists per frame.
Season Series
The Tribe defeated Delaware 3-0 in the season's previous meeting on October 14 in Williamsburg. W&M hit .261 for the match including a phenomenal .429 in a 25-18 second set win.
Kate Dedrick posted 19 kills while
Lauren Merrill produced a 13-kill, 15-dig double-double in the three-set win. The Tribe fell 3-0 to JMU on October 12 in Kaplan Arena despite hitting .257 in the contest. Dedrick threw down a career-high 21 kills and
Autumn Brenner dished out 38 assists over the tight three-set affair.
Brown's Big Week
Julia Brown is the reigning CAA Defensive Player of the Week following after sending back 21 blocks over four matches last week. The captain produced a career-high 10 block performance in the Tribe's five-set win over Charleston last Friday night and has accumulated a team-high 107 blocks on the year. Brown has been just as impressive on the offensive side of the net with 40 kills hitting over .530 over the past four matches. The Illinois native leads the Tribe with a .345 hitting percentage on the season, good for fifth in the CAA.
Seeing Double
Through 87 sets over 24 matches, Tribe sophomore
Lauren Merrill has exactly 218 digs and 218 kills. Merrill is the only player on coach Doyle's team to have reached the 200-mark in both kills and digs and has already surpassed her freshman output in both categories.
Dedrick's Encore
Kate Dedrick made quite the impression in the season's first matches against both Delaware and James Madison. The junior posted 40 kills across six sets in the pair of meetings, 19 in the win against Delaware and 21 against JMU. Dedrick's 21-kills against the Dukes is the most by any player in a three-set match this season. Dedrick's 19 point-enders against Delaware are tied for the second-best mark in a three-set match. If Dedrick is able to duplicate her 40-kill performance this weekend she will sit at an even 300 slams this season.
Milestone Watch
Senior setter
Autumn Brenner has 706 assists on the season and sits just four shy of the 2,500-career mark. Brenner is 13 digs short of 700 in her storied career.
Julia Brown brings a .345 hitting percentage into the weekend. Brown's .345 mark is on pace to be the third-highest in Tribe history. With 590 kills in her career, Brown should end the season above the 600-mark. Julia has 278 career blocks and will need 22 in the final three matches to hit an even 300. Freshman
Anna Porter is just 14 digs away from 300 in her first year on campus.
SCHEDULE AHEAD
Friday: Tribe at Delaware 7:00 p.m.
Sunday: Tribe at James Madison- 1:00 p.m.
