LEXINGTON, Va. - The Washington and Lee University volleyball team took down visiting Randolph-Macon College in five sets on Wednesday night 25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 17-25, 15-12.
In front of a large Blue Blue crowd, the Generals (12-8, 9-1 ODAC) appeared to have a three-series win in the bag and led the Yellow Jackets (14-3, 7-2) 21-16 late in the third but R-MC battled back and pushed the match to five sets.
The hosts had productive attacks in the first two series notching .314 and .289 hitting percentages and then hit for .379 in the decisive fifth set to average .203 on the night.
The Generals offense was led by
Sydney Heifner's (Nashville, Tenn. / Harpeth Hall) career-high 27 kills after setting her personal best of 26 just two nights ago at Guilford. Her 27 kills moves her up the record books one spot, tied for the third most kills in a single match for W&L.
Many of those kills were set up by senior
Ashley Webb (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Westlake). Her 54 assists on Wednesday night is a career-best for her, she also notched two blocks and a service ace in the fifth set.
Avery Myers (New York, N.Y. / Poly Prep Country Day School) added 14 and
Lillie Holcomb (Greensboro, N.C. / Western Guilford) tacked on eight kills for the home team.
To push the night to five sets, R-MC rattled off five kills in a six-point stretch to take a 22-21 lead from WLU in the third set. The hosts didn't fold but the Yellow Jackets took three of the last five points to a 25-23 win and forced the night to continue.
For the ninth time this season, the Blue and White found themselves entering into the decisive fifth set. The Yellow Jackets paired 15 kills with nine W&L errors and a .022 hitting percentage on the other side of the net with the largest margin, 25-17, and tied the night up 2-2.
In the final set, the Generals posted 13 kills to just two errors and earned the remaining two points on a R-MC error and a Webb service ace. The squads split the first 14 points, the momentum shifted in favor of the Blue and White when Myers scored the seventh, eighth and ninth point and recorded back-to-back-to-back kills. Myers and Heifner combined for two thirds of the successful attacks in the 15-point set.
Tonight's win marks the fourth W&L victory in a row over the Yellow Jackets.
Caroline Gard (Naperville, Ill. / Benet Academy) led the team in digs with 19. Both Holcomb and
Riley Debiec (Potomac, Md. / Bishop O'Connell) were credited with three blocks.
For the Yellow Jackets, Grace Parker notched a 2022 Division III match-high of 36 kills.
The Blue and White will return to action this weekend at Stevenson University in a tri-match with Scranton.
