Wash. & Lee WLU 20-7,8-3 ODAC

Berry Berry 20-6,10-4 SAA

Wash. & Lee WLU

20-7,8-3 ODAC

Final

Nov. 07, 2025

Berry Berry

20-6,10-4 SAA

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Wash. & Lee WLU	23	26	25	20	(1)
Berry Berry	25	28	20	25	(3)

Summary
Box Score

Sideline Media

Game Recap: Volleyball | 11/7/2025 7:13:00 PM

Volleyball Falls to No. 18 Berry on Day One of the Emory National Invitational

ATLANTA, Ga. - The Washington and Lee University women's volleyball team dropped their first match of the 2025 Emory National Invitational on Friday evening, falling to No. 18 Berry College (Ga.) in four sets in Atlanta.

HOW IT HAPPENED (BC 3-1, 23-25, 26-28, 25-20, 20-25)

The Vikings (20-6) rattled off four-straight points to start the set before the Generals (20-7) matched their run to tie the first frame at four. The run featured a pair of kills from Riley Debiec as well as a block from Debiec and Ava Gaines. A 4-1 run from Berry put them back on top, 8-5, before three-straight attack errors from the Vikings leveled the frame. After back-and-forth action, the Generals used a 6-1 run to take a 17-16 lead, highlighted by three-straight kills from Cara Hamil and one from Debiec. The Vikings responded with an 8-2 run to take a 24-19 lead. The Blue and White battled back with four-straight points as Grace Mitchener, Ryan Taylor, and Hamil each recorded a kill, and Mitchener added a service ace to cut the deficit to one. However, Cali Armstead recorded the final kill to secure the first frame, 25-23.
After Berry recorded the first point of the second set, W&L went on a 4-1 run to take a two-point lead thanks to a pair of kills from Debiec and one from Hamil. Both teams traded points until the Vikings went on a 7-2 run to reclaim the lead. Back-and-forth action highlighted the middle of the set, with neither team gaining more than a two-point advantage. Berry took a 19-17 lead with a W&L service error and a kill before a Debiec kill and a Sienna Nichoson service ace knotted the set at 19. Back-to-back three-point swings from each team kept the score level before two-straight kills from Mitchener gave W&L a 26-25 lead. Unfortunately, the Vikings capitalized on a pair of errors by W&L and a kill from Keira Kruk to secure a 28-26 win in set two.
Following a 4-1 run from the Vikings in the third set, the Blue and White responded with five unanswered points to take a 6-4 lead. The run featured kills from Nichoson and Mitchener, as well as a block from Gaines and Mitchener. An ensuing 5-1 run from the Generals extended their lead to four. The scoring stretch was highlighted by a kill and service ace from Debiec, along with kills from Ryan Taylor and Mitchener. Another 5-1 run pushed the Generals ahead 20-11, with kills from Debiec and Mitchener and a block from Gaines and Debiec. The Vikings fought back with a 7-2 run to close the gap to 24-20, but Hamil finished off a Nichoson assist to claim the third frame, 25-20.
Back-and-forth action marked the start of the fourth set, with a Debiec service ace leveling the score at four. The Vikings took a four-point lead with a 6-2 run before the Generals cut the deficit to one with a 4-1 run, thanks to kills from Gaines, Mitchener, and Debiec. Berry jumped out to an eight-point lead following a 7-1 run before W&L answered with five unanswered points to cut the deficit to 20-17. The Blue and White's run was highlighted by four kills from Mitchener, including three-straight, along with a Berry attacking error. The Generals shut down a 4-1 Viking run with back-to-back kills from Emery Goerig and Nichoson, but Berry's Madie Whitehead recorded the final kill to secure the four-set win for the Vikings.

TOP PERFORMERS

Mitchener posted a match-high 23 kills on 76 swings with ten errors for a .171 hitting percentage. Debiec (12) and Hamil (10) each reached double-digit kills as well. Madie Whitehead led Berry with 19 kills on 58 attempts with six errors for a .224 hitting percentage. Keira Kruk also posted 11 kills in the win with a .191 hitting percentage.
Ava Brovet of Berry led the match with 40 assists while adding 15 digs and 2.5 blocks. Sienna Nichoson dished out 39 assists this evening while digging out 14 attacks, marking her seventh match this season with 30 or more assists.
Kara Schmit and Andrea Hurt of Berry, as well as Mitchener and Debiec, led the match with two service aces, while Schellenberg and Nichoson added one.
Hurt led the match with 37 digs, while four other Vikings reached double figures. Vivi Vasquez led the Generals with 35 digs, with Mitchener adding 23 for her 13th double-double of the season. Schellenberg (17), Nichoson (14), and Penelope Quiles (10) each had ten or more digs as well.
Cali Armstead led the match with four total blocks, eight assists, while Ava Gaines led the Generals with 3.5 blocks, including one solo stop.

W&L GAME NOTES

The Generals fall to 20-7 on the season while falling to the Vikings for the 14th time in program history. W&L led the match in kills (60), total attacks (217), assists (53), digs (115), while matching Berry with six service aces. They registered 60 kills on 217 attempts with 32 errors for a .129 hitting percentage including a match-high .286 clip in the second set.
Their 217 attacks this evening is the third-most in program history, while they dug out the fourth-most attacks in program history—one shy of tying the 2023 squad, who registered 116 at Christopher Newport.
Junior Grace Mitchener recorded the second-most attack attempts in a single match with 76, moving past Meg Guignon's '19 mark of 75 swings, which was set in 2016 against Berry. She is also 11 kills away from becoming the 15th player in program history to surpass the 1,000 career kills milestone.
Junior Vivi Vasquez posted the fourth-most digs in a single match, registering 35 in today's match. She matched her own mark, which she set against Randolph-Macon in 2023. She also moved up to No. 4 all-time in the program's career digs record book, alongside Lauren Edmonson '07 with 1,532.

UP NEXT

The Generals are back in action tomorrow with a pair of matches against Top 25 opponents. They take on the host's No. 15 Emory at 11 a.m. followed by a 1:30 p.m. contest vs. No. 12 Ithaca. You can watch both matches on FloCollege or follow along through the live stats.