WILLIAMSBURG, VA. - Junior Julia Brown shined as the Tribe downed UNCG 3-1 in front of a passionate home crowd at Kaplan Arena on Friday evening. Brown's 17 kills were one off a career-high and the middle blocker hit .448 on the match and shut down the Spartans' offense with five blocks, including one on the match-clinching point. 
 
With the win, William & Mary improves to 3-3 on the young 2019 season, while UNCG drops to 5-3 on the year. Overall, it was a tight match seeing 42 ties and 17 lead changes in four competitive sets of volleyball.
 
How It Happened
The Tribe battled to a tight opening set win behind five kills and a .833 hitting percentage from Brown. Kate Dedrick, Lauren Merrill, and Kaitlyn Ferguson all added two kills in the match and Zeyanna Dhalla dished out six assists in the opening frame. Anna Porter earned seven of her 13 digs as the Tribe outlasted the Spartans 26-24. 
 
The Green and Gold would sneak by again in set two, again with the help of five kills from Brown. Merrill added three more point-enders and Anne Louise Seekford and Autumn Brenner would both provide a pair of aces to give the Tribe a 25-22 advantage. 
 
The Spartans battled back in the third frame hitting .243 with 15 kills to take a 25-21 win. UNCG's Marla Esch had seven of her game-high 24 kills in the third which only featured four ties and one lead change. 
 
The Tribe would ultimately prevail in the fourth and final set holding UNCG to just .182 hitting. With the game tied at 23-23 the Tribe took advantage of a Spartan error, and Julia Brown rose above the net for a solo block to seal the 25-23 set win and 3-1 match victory. 
 
Inside the Numbers
Brown's 17 kills and .448 hitting percentage were match-highs for the Tribe this season. William & Mary got a balanced effort from a pair of setters as Autumn Brenner and Zeyanna Dhalla each dished out 20 helpers. The 20 assist effort was a career-high for Dhalla. Despite the losing effort, UNCG was able to outhit the Tribe .216 to .201 in the match. Each team had seven service aces on the evening, but the Spartans had 12 errors to the Tribe's five. 
 
Notes
The match marked the first meeting between the Tribe and UNCG in nearly forty years as the teams had not squared off since the 1980 season. With the win, the series is now tied at 2-2. Anne Louise Seekford made her first start of the season and posted five kills to go with eight digs. This is the second straight year the Tribe started off the home schedule with a win, they defeated Savannah State 3-0 in the home-opener last season. 



Up Next
The Colonial Classic rolls on with four more matches tomorrow at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe will face Iona at 1:00 p.m. and wrap the weekend up with Georgetown at 7:00 p.m. Saturday night. Full schedule for Saturday:
 
Georgetown vs. UNCG- 10:00 a.m.
William & Mary vs. Iona- 1:00 p.m.
Iona vs. UNCG- 4:00 p.m.
William & Mary vs. Georgetown- 7 p.m.