The William and Mary volleyball team won a great, hard-fought 3-1 victory over Manhattan Friday night to open the Tribe Invitational. The Tribe improved to 2-3 overall with the win, while the Jaspers fell to 1-3 on the season. In the tournament's matinee match, Georgetown defeated Campbell by a similar 3-1 margin.
Box Score
The College's senior class once again provided not just the right kind of leadership, but lots of it in leading their teammates to the win. Shaylin O'Connell (Leesburg, Va.) set a career-high by hitting .458, with 11 kills and no errors, and also had a match-high eight blocks. Two of her defensive stops were solo efforts, tying another career high for the kinesiology major. Classmate and captain Molly Krull (Raleigh, N.C.) dished out 25 assists and added seven digs during her rotations on the floor.
Also of note, redshirt-sophomore Paulette Grand Pre (Laguna Beach, Calif.) tied O'Connell for the team lead with 11 kills, and added in a team-best 19 digs. Sophomore Manon Murray (Greensboro, N.C.) had eight kills, 13 digs, and three blocks to rank third on the team with 10 total points. Continuing the theme of super sophomores, Monika Stanciauskas (Wheaton, Ill.) had seven kills and a block, and Liz Brown (Ellicott City, Md.) picked up six kills, seven digs, and helped on three blocks.
Carolina Rivas (Orlando, Fla.) shared turns at setter with Krull, and added 21 assists, five digs, and a service ace to the team stats. Rounding out the notables on the defensive side of the floor, junior Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.) had 15 digs off the bench and libero Devin Andrews-Lyssy (Santa Rosa, Calif.) had 12 digs and a kill.
It was an extremely hard-fought and exciting match between the Tribe and the Jaspers, with the collective margin of victory across four sets being the paltry total of 10 points. W&M seized the lead early in the first set with a 7-3 run that including two of O'Connell's eight blocks, and from there answered Manhattan's charges with runs of its own, never allowing the Jaspers to gain a lead all the way to a 25-22 win. In the second set, the home team found itself in a three-point hole at 15-12, but was able to climb back into contention late. Down 22-20, Andrews-Lyssy lofted a pass over the net that somehow found the floor, and kicked off a 5-1 run. Freshman Olivia Jebb (Cornwall, N.Y.) served the next three points, forcing two attack errors out of the Jaspers before pounding in an ace, and O'Connell and Krull combined for the block that gave W&M a 25-23 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Coming out of the intermission, the Tribe again went ahead early at 8-4, but the visitors steadily kept chipping away at the lead and finally took the advantage on a block at 22-21. The teams traded the next four points with the Jaspers in the lead, and O'Connell scored a kill to pull the Tribe within one at 24-23, but a service error gave the set to Manhattan and tightened the match considerably with a slim 2-1 lead for W&M.
The fourth set dawned favorably for the Tribe, with consecutive 6-1 and 8-2 runs staking the College to an eight-point lead at 17-9. Manhattan showed plenty of toughness in responding with a 6-1 run of its own, and then another identical run just a short time later to claw within a point of W&M, 22-21. Grand Pre hammered home her 11th kill of the match to end the threat, and a Jaspers error set up Brown to finish things off with yet another kill and a 25-22 win.
The Tribe Invitational continues all day Saturday, beginning with William and Mary and Campbell at 10 a.m.
Box Score
The College's senior class once again provided not just the right kind of leadership, but lots of it in leading their teammates to the win. Shaylin O'Connell (Leesburg, Va.) set a career-high by hitting .458, with 11 kills and no errors, and also had a match-high eight blocks. Two of her defensive stops were solo efforts, tying another career high for the kinesiology major. Classmate and captain Molly Krull (Raleigh, N.C.) dished out 25 assists and added seven digs during her rotations on the floor.
Also of note, redshirt-sophomore Paulette Grand Pre (Laguna Beach, Calif.) tied O'Connell for the team lead with 11 kills, and added in a team-best 19 digs. Sophomore Manon Murray (Greensboro, N.C.) had eight kills, 13 digs, and three blocks to rank third on the team with 10 total points. Continuing the theme of super sophomores, Monika Stanciauskas (Wheaton, Ill.) had seven kills and a block, and Liz Brown (Ellicott City, Md.) picked up six kills, seven digs, and helped on three blocks.
Carolina Rivas (Orlando, Fla.) shared turns at setter with Krull, and added 21 assists, five digs, and a service ace to the team stats. Rounding out the notables on the defensive side of the floor, junior Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.) had 15 digs off the bench and libero Devin Andrews-Lyssy (Santa Rosa, Calif.) had 12 digs and a kill.
It was an extremely hard-fought and exciting match between the Tribe and the Jaspers, with the collective margin of victory across four sets being the paltry total of 10 points. W&M seized the lead early in the first set with a 7-3 run that including two of O'Connell's eight blocks, and from there answered Manhattan's charges with runs of its own, never allowing the Jaspers to gain a lead all the way to a 25-22 win. In the second set, the home team found itself in a three-point hole at 15-12, but was able to climb back into contention late. Down 22-20, Andrews-Lyssy lofted a pass over the net that somehow found the floor, and kicked off a 5-1 run. Freshman Olivia Jebb (Cornwall, N.Y.) served the next three points, forcing two attack errors out of the Jaspers before pounding in an ace, and O'Connell and Krull combined for the block that gave W&M a 25-23 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Coming out of the intermission, the Tribe again went ahead early at 8-4, but the visitors steadily kept chipping away at the lead and finally took the advantage on a block at 22-21. The teams traded the next four points with the Jaspers in the lead, and O'Connell scored a kill to pull the Tribe within one at 24-23, but a service error gave the set to Manhattan and tightened the match considerably with a slim 2-1 lead for W&M.
The fourth set dawned favorably for the Tribe, with consecutive 6-1 and 8-2 runs staking the College to an eight-point lead at 17-9. Manhattan showed plenty of toughness in responding with a 6-1 run of its own, and then another identical run just a short time later to claw within a point of W&M, 22-21. Grand Pre hammered home her 11th kill of the match to end the threat, and a Jaspers error set up Brown to finish things off with yet another kill and a 25-22 win.
The Tribe Invitational continues all day Saturday, beginning with William and Mary and Campbell at 10 a.m.
