The Virginia Wesleyan University women's volleyball team (31-2, 11-0) lost to Washington and Lee in five-set thriller 3-2, falling 24-26, 25-16, 22-25, 25-21, and 15-17.
The Marlins had a record-breaking night as
Hannah Smith broke the school's single-match kills record with 34, breaking her own record that she set against Ferrum with 28 last season.
Niya Nash had a banner night as she broke the single-match assist record with 65, breaking a record that had stood since 2007 and was held by Grace Geralds. Nash also broke the single-season assist record as she now has 1208 assists this season, breaking Marissa Wood's record that was set in 2008 with 1,179 assists.
Hannah Smith led the team with 34 kills, with a .429 hitting percentage, had 38 digs, seven aces, two assists, and one block assist.
Madi Schmidt had 13 kills, 24 digs, and one block assist, and teammate
Brianna Clay had 10 kills with a .308 hitting percentage, four block assists, one dig, and one ace.
Niya Nash tallied 65 assists, had four kills, 13 digs, and one block assist, and the starting libero
Skylar Rivers had 22 digs, four assists, and one ace.
In the first set, W&L built a 5-1 lead early, but the Marlins countered to bring the score to 5-4. However, the Generals responded with a 5-0 run to hold a 10-4 lead. VWU chipped away at the Generals' lead and brought the score to 14-10, and then went on a 4-1 run to cut the lead to 15-14 midway through the set. W&L went on a 3-1 run to increase their lead to 18-15, but the Marlins countered with a 3-0 run to tie the set at 18-18. The two teams traded the next 12 points to bring the score to 24-24, and two attacking errors by the Marlins gave WLU the first set.
Virginia Wesleyan fought back in the second set, jumping out to a 7-2 lead. The two teams traded points until the Marlins went on a monster 6-0 run to lead 15-4. The rest of the set was pretty even, with the Generals outscoring the Marlins 12-10, but the big run gave the Marlins enough of a lead to claim set two 25-16.
In the third set, the Marlins kept the momentum and held a 5-2 lead early, but the Generals responded with a 4-1 run to tie the set at 6-6. Washington & Lee rallied and went on a 6-1 run to take a 12-7 lead over the host. However, VWU countered with a 6-2 run to cut the Generals' lead to 14-13, but W&L responded with a 5-1 run to open their lead to 19-14. Virginia Wesleyan responded with a 7-2 run to tie the set at 21-21, but the Generals went on a 4-1 run to win the third set 25-22.
The Marlins again got momentum going early in the fourth set, jumping out to a 6-3 lead. However, the Generals countered with a 5-2 run to tie the set at 8-8, but the Marlins responded with a 7-1 run to increase their lead to 15-9. The two teams traded several points, but the Generals rallied with a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 17-16. Virginia Wesleyan outscored the Generals 8-5 the rest of the set to win the fourth set 25-21.
In the fifth set, the Marlins jumped out to a 4-2 lead. Then, the two teams each scored four points to bring the score to 8-6, to switched sides in the fifth set. The Generals responded with a 3-0 run to take a 9-8 lead to force a VWU timeout. Virginia Wesleyan responded with a 4-0 run to take a 12-9 lead, but W&L responded with a 5-0 run to lead 14-12. The Marlins countered with a 3-1 run to tie the set at 15-15, but the Generals won the next two points to win the fifth set 17-15.
