ATLANTA, Ga. --- In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 14th-ranked Southwestern hit over .300 in the third and fourth sets to oust the Washington and Lee volleyball team, 3-1, on Thursday at Emory University.
 
After dropping the first set, 25-11, the Generals (26-8) won the first four points in the second en route to assuming a 12-6 lead through the first 18 points. The Pirates (25-5) trimmed the deficit to 15-14, but a pair of errors by Southwestern and a kill by senior outside hitter Val Sokolow (Draper, Utah/Juan Diego Catholic) extended the Blue and White's lead to 18-14.
 
Later in the set, a kill by sophomore outside hitter Sydney Heifner (Nashville, Tenn./Harpeth Hall) pushed the Generals in front, 24-18, but the Pirates claimed the next five points to pull to within one, 24-23. W&L called time out and out of the break, Heifner tallied a kill win the set, 25-23, and even the match, 1-1.
 
Southwestern responded in the third, hitting .333 on 36 attempts to take the set, 25-13. In the fourth, the squads were tied, 7-7, but the Pirates won five of the next six points to grab a 12-8 advantage. The Blue and White cut the margin to three (16-13), following back-to-back kills by senior middle blocker Katy Blain (West Palm Beach, Fla./Benjamin School) and Heifner, but Southwestern answered with a 6-1 spurt to stretch the lead to 22-14.
 
The Generals won six of the next eight points to climb to within four (24-20), but a kill by senior right side Lauren Crabtree secured the set, 25-20, and the match, 3-1, for the Pirates.
 
Heifner led the team with 16 kills and 14 digs. Sokolow registered 10 kills and 17 digs. Heiner's 16 kills pushed her season total to 433, which is the ninth-best single-season total in W&L history.  
 
Junior defensive specialist Caroline Gard (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) notched a team-best 18 digs, while junior setter Ashley Webb (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) tallied 31 assists, six digs and two kills. Gard finishes the season with 513 digs, which is the fifth-best single-season mark in program history. Webb ends the year with 1,111 assists, marking the sixth-best single-season total in team history.  
 
Crabtree led Southwestern with 14 kills on a .333 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Emma White had 12 kills and 17 digs.
 
The 26 wins this season are the most for the Blue and White since notching a 27-7 record during the 2014 season.
 
This concludes the 2021 campaign for the Generals.

--- This release is courtesy of the Washington and Lee University department of athletic communications. ---
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