CHARLESTON, S.C. – The William & Mary volleyball team fell at Charleston, 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-15), on Friday evening.
 
Nicole Smith led the Tribe (7-11, 3-6) with 10 kills on a .391 hitting percentage and two aces, while Maddie Meyers added nine putaways.
 
Lindsay Kahren posted a team-high 15 digs with a pair of aces, while Bella Easton recorded a team-high 13 assists with six digs.
 
Charleston (16-5, 8-1) hit .392 as a team and recorded seven aces en route to winning for the 13th time in its last 14 matches.
 
The Cougars jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the opening set. Although Charleston extended the margin to as many as seven at 15-8, W&M utilized a 7-2 run to cut the gap to just two, 17-15. However, the Cougars edged back ahead and later closed out the initial set by scoring the final four points to win, 25-18.
 
As it did in the opening frame, Charleston built an early lead in the second set and went up 7-2 following three consecutive aces by Emily Banitt. The Tribe rattles off a 5-1 run midway through the stanza to knot the score at 11-11 after back-to-back aces by Smith, but the Cougars responded with a 9-1 run en route to claiming the set, 25-17.
 
Charleston raced out to an 11-2 lead in the third set and never looked back. A 3-0 spurt by the Tribe fueled by three consecutive kills by Smith off assists from Easton briefly narrowed the gap to seven at 13-6, but the Cougars answered and extended the margin to as many as 14 before winning the deciding set, 25-15.
 
W&M will close out its weekend series versus the Cougars on Saturday at 2 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on FloCollege, while live stats will be available via CofCSports.com.