William and Mary suffered a pair of losses in Kaplan Arena this weekend, falling Friday against Hofstra in a shutout and Saturday in a closer match against Northeastern. The losses, both to Colonial Athletic Association opponents, drop the College to last place in the conference and extend its current losing streak to four games.
The Tribe (8-15, 2-8 CAA) lost in three straight sets to the Pride (16-7, 6-4 CAA), defeated by margins of 25-16, 25-23 and 25-23, respectively. Hofstra previously defeated the College in a 3-1 road match Oct. 2, giving the Tribe a 0-2 record for the season against the conference foe. This match acted as the College’s annual Dig Pink event to raise money for the Side-Out Foundation, with a total of more than $1,500 raised at the event for breast cancer research.
This match acted as the College’s annual Dig Pink event to raise money for the Side-Out Foundation, with a total of more than $1,500 raised at the event for breast cancer research.
Junior outside hitter Sydney Biniak led the offense with 11 kills, followed by junior middle blocker Paige Humphrey with eight. Humphrey also secured the only two Tribe blocks of the game, equaling the Pride’s number of successful blocks. Junior defender Sara Zumbach and senior back-row defender Gabrielle Pe dominated the defense with 19 and 18 respective digs.
With her Friday performance, Zumbach was at 980 career digs and on pace to reach the milestone of 1,000 later in the weekend. If she achieved the feat, it would mark the fastest in program history that a player reached 1,000 digs.
The College put up a stronger front against Northeastern (18-6, 8-2 CAA) Saturday night, falling in a five-set barnburner. The Tribe secured the first two sets — both at 25-22 — followed by three consecutive losses to the visiting Huskies 25-21, 25-14 and 17-15. The result may have been the same, but shows improvement from the 3-0 loss in Boston Sept. 30.
Zumbach secured the honor of the fastest player to reach 1,000 digs in Tribe volleyball history, only taking 72 collegiate games to reach it. The previous record holder was Kathleen Hawley ’06, who hit 1,000 in her 75th game.
Biniak and Humphrey led the offense again, this time with 16 and 14 kills, respectively. Humphrey dominated the defense at the net with nine of the Tribe’s 14 blocks Saturday night, matching the Huskies’ total blocks by herself.
Zumbach secured the honor of the fastest player to reach 1,000 digs in Tribe volleyball history, only taking 72 collegiate games to reach it. The previous record holder was Kathleen Hawley ’06, who hit 1,000 in her 75th game. She becomes just the ninth Tribe student-athlete to attain the milestone. With only 20 to reach 1,000, she had 23 digs to lead the defense.
The Tribe will host Elon tonight at 7 p.m. at Kaplan Arena in search of the next CAA win. Elon is currently second-to-last in the conference standings at 2-7, though the Phoenix claimed the Sept. 25 meeting between the schools in a 3-0 shutout.
Editor’s note: William and Mary fell Monday night to Elon in another 3-0 shutout as the Phoenix extinguished a third set comeback attempt. The loss puts the Tribe at 2-9 in CAA play and a five-game losing streak with five matches remaining in the regular season. — Sports Editor Nick Cipolla