The William and Mary volleyball team put a successful exclamation point on its non-conference schedule Tuesday night, beating Big East foe Villanova in a thrilling 3-2 match at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe improves to 7-10 overall, while the Wildcats fall to 12-8 on the year.
The College's winning effort was led by senior Brooke Bauernfeind (Ashburn, Va.), who collected a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs. Redshirt-freshman Paulette Grand Pre (Laguna Beach, Calif.) also had a double-double, matching 11 kills and 12 digs to go with a service ace.
The Tribe defense was terrific with 91 total digs, with Bauernfeind and Grad Pre just two of the five players reached double-digit digs. Celine Alasomuka (Centreville, Va.) had 23 to go with her three service aces, and junior Molly Krull (Raleigh, N.C.) had 16 with two aces. Julia Swalchick (Melbourne, Fla.) matched her fellow outside hitters with 12 digs as she cycled through the rotation.
Also notable was the Tribe's play along the net, led by freshman setter Carolina Rivas (Orlando, Fla.). Rivas had 38 assists, six digs, and connected on four kills in 10 attempts with no errors. Senior middle Anne Dorff (Kent, Ohio) matched Rivas' attack totals, and redshirt-freshman Monika Stanciauskas (Wheaton, Ill.) had eight kills to go with two assists and four digs.
The match was a back-and-forth affair in more ways than one, as the team's won alternating sets while combining for 23 tied scores and 11 lead changes. W&M led the way with wins in the first and third sets, 25-18 and 25-15, while Villanova proved the victor in sets two and four, 25-15 and 25-10. In the fifth set, Villanova jumped out to an early lead and was up by three at 5-2, but the Tribe induced an attack error on the next rally and began the meticulous climb back into control of the set and match. The Wildcats remained ahead in the scoring column until 10-9, but a Villanova service error gave serve back to the Green and Gold at 10-10 and Grand Pre and Stanciauskas knocked in two quick kills to put the Tribe ahead 12-10.
The score would knot up at every point from there, with neither team conceding anything easy as both grappled for the win to make the earlier sets worthwhile. Grand Pre stopped Villanova's two-point run at push the lead to 13-12, and after another tie, Stanciauskas was there again to put W&M at match-point. Villanova called a timeout to settle themselves, and got a sideout thanks to a Tribe serving error that restored a deuce-situation at 14-14. After a W&M timeout and a lengthy rally, the Wildcats were able to score on a block, and gained themselves match-point at 15-14. W&M head coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton '91 called her second timeout immediately, allowing her young team to gather themselves and focus on getting through the next serve. The Tribe accomplished that beautifully, with Dorff putting down a pass from Rivas to even the score at 15-15. The next serve saw Villanova commit an unforced attack error and hit the ball out of bounds, and at its second match-point, the Tribe was able to secure the win with a kill from Swalchick.
William and Mary is back in action this weekend with a pair of Colonial Athletic Association match-ups. Friday, the Tribe will host Delaware at 7 p.m., before taking on Towson at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
