By Dave Johnson

W&M Athletics
William & Mary's volleyball team didn't pull off a stunner by winning the Colonial Athletic Association tournament last week. It did, however, do something the program hadn't done in more than two decades and set a standard for the future.

In the tournament for the first time in seven years as the No. 7 seed, the Tribe dropped the first two sets to No. 2 Hofstra. But W&M won the next three to earn its first tournament victory since 2001 — before most of its current players had been born.

In the following day's semifinals, the Tribe took No. 3 Delaware to five sets and nearly pulled off the highly unlikely. Trailing 14-8 in the first-to-15 final set, the Tribe scored six consecutive points to tie. The Blue Hens then scored on back-to-back points for the win.

So close. And so important.

"The competitive part of me is hard to stomach the loss on the second day," head coach Tim Doyle said. "But the rational part of me is so proud. They gave all of themselves until the very last point of our last match. As a coach, you can't ask anything more.

"In our team meeting before we left for Towson, we talked about if they were willing to be first. The mental rehearsal, the things you tell yourself and the things you tell your teammates, there are so many things that go into it. It's really difficult to break through like that, and you have to be willing to do it. And they were."

Before last week, the Tribe's last win in the conference tournament came in the 2001 championship game. After a first-round loss at Duke in the NCAA tournament, W&M finished with a 22-6 record.

The Tribe returned to the conference tournament in 2005, '07, '08, '09, '12, and '15. It went 0-6 in those appearances.
With last week's breakthrough, Doyle believes the program has established a new identity.

"They've sent a message to the rest of the league and our supporters that when you come to play us, we'll never quit and it'll be an absolute battle each time," Doyle said. "People hate to play that sort of team, and that's what they've crafted for themselves.

"They've created a new benchmark for our program that every recruiting class and next generation of players will expect to be in the CAA semifinals at a minimum. And they really expect to be in the final game when you play the semifinal that close."

Of all the players who stepped up last week, none were bigger than junior outside hitter Maddie Meyers. She had 29 kills on a .230 percentage with four blocks and two service aces. She became the first Tribe player to make the all-tournament team since 2009.

In the third set against Delaware, Meyers served on four consecutive Tribe points, including an ace. She also had three kills, an assist and a block.

"We've been searching for consistent outside play for most of the year, and when it counted most, Maddie brought it," Doyle said. "Without her, we would not have beaten Hofstra and we would not have been competitive against Delaware."

Outside hitter Eleanor Stothoff also had 29 kills in the two matches and five blocks against Delaware. Freshman Nicole Smith had 24 kills, a career-high 15 coming vs. the Blue Hens, and 10 total blocks. Amy Schwem had 48 assists and 15 digs. Emma Minnick had 43 and 31.

W&M will lose three seniors from the 2022 team — libero Anna Porter, opposite Kaitlyn Ferguson and outside hitter Sydney Taylor.

"It's really hard to replace Anna Porter, but we have some talented underclassmen liberos and they're all hungry to take on that role," Doyle said. "We've got a good core nucleus coming back to do it again. I think we'll be in a great spot for next season.