The Brandeis women’s volleyball team was 1-2 on their first University Athletic Association round robin of the season in Rochester over the weekend. With that their overall season record drops to 11-7.
The Judges dropped their UAA opener on Saturday night to the Washington University Bears in straight sets 23-25, 11-25, 19-25. Brandeis started out strong in the first set, coming within 2 points of their opponents, but were unable to keep it up in the second and third sets.
Both teams put up 10 kills in the first, but Brandeis had 8 errors, two more than the Bears. The second set saw a shift in play, with the Bears getting more than twice as many kills than the Judges, 15 compared to 7, and half as many errors. While play was closer in the third set, the Judges were unable to come back for the win. Brandeis was paced by setter Abby Blasco ’11 who put up 26 assists and nine digs, just one short of making her ninth double-double of the season. Twin sister Paige led the team with eight kills while blocker Nicole Smith ’11 had seven kills and three blocks.
Brandeis went on to face the Case Western Reserve Spartans the next morning and again dropped the first set 25-23. The Judges fought back and took the second set 25-18, but were unable to keep their momentum going. The Spartans picked up the last two sets 25-18, 25-21 to take the game 3-1. Paige Blasco led the game with 17 digs and also put up five kills. Sister Abby had 38 assists, nine digs, and six kills. Piera Carfagno ’10 assisted in the effort as well by putting up a season-high 18 kills in addition to an impressive .368 percentage with the 18 kills and four errors in 38 attempts.
After dropping the first two games, the Judges rallied to take the third and final game of the weekend against the hosting Rochester University Yellowjackets. Brandeis won in straight sets 25-16, 25-22, 25-15. The Judges had only 3 errors in the first set and 5 in each the second and third compared to Rochester who put up 15 in the first, 8 in the second, and 12 in the third. The Yellowjackets also only had three players with a positive percentage while the Judges had just one in the negatives. Bridget McAllister led the defensive effort with 10 digs while Abby Blasco put up 24 assists and 6 digs. Carfagno, Paige Blasco, and Smith each had six kills to aid the offensive effort.
The Judges will play again this Saturday at home in a tri-match against Coast Guard and Keene State. UAA action resumes next weekend, October 17 and 18, in New York City where Brandeis will face Carnegie Mellon University (10-8 overall, 1-2 in UAA), Chicago University (13-9 overall, 1-2 in UAA), Emory University (18-2 overall, 3-0 in UAA), and New York University (16-5 overall, 1-2 in UAA). Brandeis is currently ranked fifth in the UAA.
