CHARLOTTE, N.C. — William & Mary volleyball split its matches on the opening day of the Queens Fall Classic.
After falling to the host Royals, 3-1, in the opening match, the Tribe (4-4) responded with a 3-1 win, 28-26, 16-25, 25-23, 25-17, over USC Upstate in the night cap.
Fifth-year Maddie Meyers led the Tribe with double-doubles in both matches, including 22 kills in the opening against Queens.
William & Mary 3, USC Upstate 1
Freshman Devereau Hoxsie led the Tribe with 15 kills against the Spartans, while hitting .391. Junior Nicole Smith turned in a nice stat line of 11 kills to go with career-highs of eight blocks and seven digs. Meyers recorded her second double-double in as many matches and third of the season with 10 kills and 13 digs.
Senior Amy Schwem just missed her second-straight double-double with 23 assists and nine digs. Senior Bella Easton led W&M with 28 assists, while junior Lindsay Kahren posted 21 digs.
Tied at 15 in the first set, W&M used a 6-1 run to open up a lead. Ryann Love added a block and a kill during the run, while Meyers had an ace and a kill to push the Tribe lead to 21-16.
A 5-0 Upstate run, thanks in part to two Kamyla Vega David aces, gave the Spartans a set point at 24-23. W&M answered back before cashing in its third set point behind Hoxsie’s sixth kill of the set.
USC Upstate responded to tie the match with one with a 25-16 victory in the second. The Spartans scored first five points of the set and led throughout, while hitting .414 on 13 kills compared to one error.
In the third, the Tribe used a 5-0 run to open up a 10-4 lead. Upstate rallied with a 5-0 run of their own and used a pair of Bri Brathol to take its first lead at 13-12.
Smith notched a solo block and followed by a kill, before a Kaitlyn Dunnigan ace gave W&M a 22-20 lead. For the second time in as many sets, Hoxsie closed it out with a kill to put the Tribe on top 2-1.
Kills from Meyers, Love and Smith ignited a 5-0 Tribe run in the fourth, which opened up a 17-10 advantage. The margin reached nine, 21-12, on another Meyers kill, before Smith’s 11th kill of the match clinched the Tribe’s fourth win of the season.
Queens 3, William & Mary 1
The Royals jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the opening set, forcing a Tribe timeout. W&M did their best to regroup, finding its footing midway through the set to go on a 7-3 run, cutting the deficit to 18-17. Another mini-Tribe-run tied things at 22 after a kill from Meyers. The two sides traded points before Queens finally got over the hump in a thrilling opening set, 31-29. Both squads hit for a high percentage in the first; .314 for the Royals and .280 for the Tribe. Meyers picked up seven kills while Cate Hatfield handed out 10 assists.
Queens used strong defense to get out to a 12-6 lead behind four blocks in the second. Audrey Brcka ended the Royals 5-0 run and sparked three consecutive Tribe points. Despite the quick spurt, W&M never would pull closer than four as the Royals took the set 25-17 to go up 2-0.
Hatfield picked up an early ace, on top of a kill from Meyers, to push W&M out to a 4-1 lead in the third set. The Tribe used that momentum to roll to a 25-9 win, making the match 2-1. W&M went on a 13-1 run to close the set out in emphatic fashion. The Green and Gold hit a whopping .462 in the third to go along with six aces, including three from Kahren. Brcka and Smith each picked up a pair of kills over the 13-1 spurt.
The Tribe was unable to use the momentum from set three to complete the comeback, however, as the Royals took the fourth set 25-16 and a 3-1 win.
Meyers finished the outing with 22 kills and 10 digs for a double-double. Schwem also posted a double-double on the afternoon with 26 assists and 13 digs. Hatfield finished with 16 assists. Junior Olivia Esposito totaled eight kills and led W&M by hitting .571.
Up Next
The Tribe wraps up the Queens Fall Classic against Davison on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. The match will be streamed on ESPN+
