Last Friday the Brandeis volleyball team’s season began with the Western Connecticut State Invitational. The Judges started on a high note, taking a 3-0 lead from Johnson and Wales on Friday and another 3-0 lead against Kean to start off Saturday’s games. The Judges took second place in the tournament, with a 2-1 record, after falling in a close match against the hosts, the Western Connecticut State Colonials, 3-0.
In the opening game, the Judges offense was led by outside hitter Liz Hood ’15 with nine kills (grounding the ball on the opponents’ side of the net). Hood was followed closely by Si-Si Hensley ’14 with eight kills and Becca Fischer ’13 with seven kills.
Defensively, another new teammate rose to the occasion. Elsie Bernaiche ’15 managed 19 digs, which prevented kills. Hood, Hensley and Fischer also defended with a combined 10 digs and three blocks.
On Saturday the Judges began with another strong offensive in their match against Kean. They went for 45 kills in 92 attacks with eight errors. Fischer led among four Judges to hit at least .450 over the match with five kills in eight attempts. Setter Yael Einhorn ’14 also managed an impressive game with two kills in four attempts and 38 assists, just three shy of her career-best.
Hood and Hensley both reached double digits in kills, with 12 and 11 respectively. Lauren Berens ’13 also did well, with eight kills in 13 attempts and two errors. Once again Bernaiche led the defense with 12 digs.
The third and final match of the tournament proved to be the Judges’ undoing. They lost 3-0 to the Colonials in a match that included two closely fought sets.
On Wednesday the Judges traveled to Wellesley for a midweek match. In the first set Wellesley got a quick 5-0 lead on the way to a crushing 25-14 loss for the Judges. The second set was a much closer affair. Around halfway through the set Wellesley was up 15-12 and managed to hold off a Judges rally in order to maintain a 25-21 lead. Set three also started closely but eventually turned out to be more like the first set until Wellesley began to take it away with a 16-12. Fischer led a three-point run to bring it to 16-15, but Wellesley ran away with the game by going on a 9-2 run to seal the victory.
The Judges next play this weekend as they host the Brandeis Invitational. Their first home game of the season is against Babson at 4 p.m. Friday.
