WILLIAMSBURG — Maddie Meyers, Nicole Smith and Audrey Brcka posted career-highs in kills and helped William & Mary Volleyball rallied from a 2-0 deficit to force a decisive fifth set against in-state rival Old Dominion on Tuesday night inside Kaplan. Unfortunately, the Monarchs spoiled the Tribe’s home opener, hanging on for a five-set victory, 29-27, 25-19, 19-25, 25-27, 15-12.
Meyers notched her fourth career double-double with a career-best and game-high 24 kills to go with 15 digs. Smith and Brcka both had career-bests as well with 18 and 11 kills, respectively. Smith added six digs and Brcka two block solos to add to the career nights. Freshman Cate Hatfield joined the stat leaders with her first career double-double on career-highs of three kills, 22 assists and 11 digs.
Senior Bella Easton posted a career-high 34 assists, the most for a Tribe player since 2022, to go with eight digs. Defensively, junior Kaitlyn Dunnigan notched a career-high 20 digs, the most for a Tribe player since the 2022 CAA Tournament, and junior Olivia Esposito recorded her 10th career match with seven or more blocks, finishing with seven on the evening.
Trailing 2-0 after the Monarchs (3-1) hit 30.6% (16 kills to 5 errors) and 31.7% (14 kills to 1 error) in first two sets, the Tribe roared back in the third. W&M used a late 9-1 run to seize control. Trailing 16-15, the Green and Gold won four-straight points capped by Brcka’s first block solo. After a Hailee Blankenship kill stemmed the tide, the Tribe surged in front with five consecutive points, including back-to-back kills from Smith, to take a 24-17 lead. Meyers clinched the set with a kill to draw W&M within 2-1.
ODU jumped out to an early lead in the fourth set, behind six-straight points. Bryanna Jones had a pair of kills and the Monarchs added a pair of blocks during the run to extend the lead to 13-8.
W&M rallied to pull even at 15 on a Meyers kill. Neither team led by more than two the rest of the set. The Tribe forced a decisive fifth with the final two points of the set. Sophomore Katherine Arnason put the Tribe on top 26-25, before Brcka leapt for an impressive block solo on a Myah Conway attack to clinch the set.
In the fifth, the Tribe ripped off three-straight points, taking a 6-4 lead on a dump by Hatfield. ODU took control of the final set with four-straight points to open up a 13-8 lead on a Blankenship kill. The Tribe drew with two, 14-12, on Meyers’s final kill of the evening, but ODU’s Jones clinched the victory for the visitor with her 13th kill.
Blankenship (16 kills and 12 digs) and Jones (13 kills and 12 digs) posted double-doubles for the Monarchs, while Conway had a team-high 18 kills and hit 32.5% for the match.
W&M returns to action when it hosts the Tribe Invitational, Sept. 6-7. The Tribe faces Bucknell to start the event on Friday at 7 p.m., before meeting Quinnipiac and George Mason on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively, inside Kaplan Arena. The final two matches will be broadcast on Flo Volleyball.
