WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary volleyball opens the 2021 season with a pair of road contests. The Tribe begins the year on Friday afternoon against Western Illinois, before facing Air Force on Saturday. Both matches will be held in Dekalb, Ill. on the campus of Northern Illinois. 
 

Game Day Information - Match 1 vs. Western Illinois
When:	Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, 6 PM (5 CT)
Multimedia:	Live Stats
Game Notes:	Notes
Game Day Information - Match 2 vs. Air Force
When:	Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021, 11 AM (10 CT)
Multimedia:	Live Stats
Notes:	Notes
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By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

A traditional fall season would have been at least 25 matches. Instead, because of the pandemic, William & Mary's volleyball team was able to play only eight last spring.

Coach Tim Doyle isn't complaining.

"Game experience is game experience," said Doyle, who is going into his fourth season. "The amount of growth that can happen in one match is great. Having eight matches, I was thankful just to have that."

"Every match you see only makes you that much more prepared the next time through. Everybody grew."

Doyle uses junior setter Kate Van Houten as an example. As a freshman in 2019, she played behind all-time assist leader (25-point sets) Autumn Brenner. As the starter last spring, she led the Tribe and was second in the Colonial Athletic Association with 10.35 assists per set.

"To get that level of game experience, the confidence in yourself and understanding how to prepare," Doyle said, "it is second to none."

After winning three of its first four matches, the Tribe finished 3-5 last spring. The big loss is Kate Dedrick, who led the team and was fourth in the CAA with 4.07 kills a set. But the other half of the big two, 6-foot-2 middle blocker Julia Brown, is back for her fifth season.

Brown, one of nine players selected to the preseason All-CAA team, averaged 3.34 kills a set with a hitting percentage of .287 (fifth in the conference). With Dedrick gone, Brown can expect more attention at the net.

 "She's going to command a double block almost everywhere she goes," Doyle said. "The big focus for us is to make sure our pin attackers around her are putting the ball away. They're going to have one-on-one opportunities and plenty of ways to score.

"We're switching Lauren Merrill from a left-side attacker to a right-side attacker and Kaitlyn Ferguson from middle blocker to an opposite. That's going to give us one-on-ones, especially with Julia Brown and Sabrina Malcolm in the middle commanding a lot of attention."

Doyle is also encouraged by the return of outside hitter Sydney Taylor, who missed the 2019 season with a knee injury and played in four matches last spring. Her 1.33 kills per set are fourth among the Tribe's returning players.

As far as strategy goes, Doyle plans to switch from a 5-1 rotation to a 6-2. That means there will always be two setters and three attackers at the net.

The coach is also excited about the continued development of junior libero Anna Porter.

"The libero jersey has almost exclusively been worn by her the past two seasons, and she's an absolute rock star," Doyle said. "She's brilliant at reading the game and making adjustments to our serve receive system. She's a joy to coach and I'm ready to watch her ball."

William & Mary's season will begin with a weekend trip to DeKalb, Ill., for the two-day Huskie Classic. Friday night, the Tribe will go against Western Illinois. Saturday's opponent will be the Air Force Academy. 

DeKalb is an hour outside of Chicago, and W&M has three players who come from that area: sophomore outside hitter Maddie Meyers, freshman setter Amy Schwem, and Brown.

"We have three non-conference weekends, and we like to get to a location that is a senior's hometown," Doyle said. "This is three birds with one stone. We're going to leave a day early and do a big Chicago site-seeing experiential trip.

"Last year was a long year emotionally, and we wanted to put something together that would be competitive and fun. We wanted to give them an opportunity let loose a little bit and enjoy what a college experience should be about."

The Tribe is hoping to take a big step in turning around a program that hasn't had a winning season since 2009.

"Our team culture is clearly identified and we can articulate it," Doyle said. "Everyone's bought into it. Day to day, it's a wonderful team to be around. We have no drama and the players are willing to work their tails off.

"One of our freshmen said, 'We're not just hungry, we're starving.' I think that represents what we're trying to do competitively on the court. Academically, were doing great. (Community) service, we're doing great. Leadership, we're doing great. Now, we're hungry for on-court success."