The long and winding road does eventually lead to that door;
hopefully Brandeis success in the Judges tournament will lead them up the path of respectability. Following a tough string of matches in which Brandeis went 1 and 8 in the past two weeks, Brandeis came roaring through the Judges Classic to win the tournament, overcoming past defeats and a string of injuries that saw every player take the floor (We had some players playing out of position Coach Kim said). Their tournament came complete with a record-setting performance by libero Shannon Trees 08 who served a record setting consecutive 26 serves that led to Brandeis points.
She did a really nice job serving but not to take any credit away from [Shannon] Trees, its also the team in defending our servesSome of those balls came back to us and we were able to keep it alive and send it back to them. As a team, I thought, as a team, we did a really great job. Coach Michelle Kim pointed out.
Day one saw Brandeis earning sweet revenge against two opponents who have beaten them in prior matches: Eastern Connecticut State University and Gordon. In four close games, Brandeis defeated ECSU 3-1 (31-29, 28-30, 30-22, 30-19). Lorraine Wingenbach 09 had 19 kills and 12 digs while Violette Ruggiero 09 had 16 digs and 43 assists. In the next match the Judges defeated Gordon, 3-2 (30-27, 24-30, 30-22, 32-30, 15-12). Wingenbach lit up the score sheet with 27 kills, 22 digs and 17 errors. Counting Wingenbach, 5 players had double-digit digs totals with Jenny Sandler 08 leading with 24. Ruggiero provided 49 assists.
Day two of the tournament saw Brandeis finish on top, defeating Plymouth State 3-1 (20-30, 30-24, 30-24, 30-18), sweeping Newbury 3-0 (30-19, 30-14, 30-4) and topping Endicott another revenge match, 3-1 (30-22, 32-34, 32-30, 30-26). As you can see, the matches were closer than the match tallies reveal. The final match against Newbury was tied at four apiece when with Shannon Trees serving, Brandeis went on a record-setting 26-0 run. Jenna Polinsky 06 led the scorers with 20 kills against Plymouth St. while Wingenbach and Sandler had 17 and 13 kills respectively. Against Newbury, Wingenbach led the offense with 19 kills, little used player Katie Wrynn 08 contributed to the victory providing 14 digs on defense. In the final match against Endicott, Wingenbach dominated the stat sheet with 27 kills and 19 digs while Ruggiero provided 53 assists.
Coach Michelle Kim provided her views of the tournament, Its always to win in your own tournament. As for as importance goes, we feel that every match is important
