This past weekend the women’s volleyball team played in the Hall of Fame Invitational at Amherst College. The Judges played three games, ending with a record of 1-2. On Friday the Judges snatched a victory from Wesleyan, but dropped games to both Amherst and Trinity.
Friday’s game was a heated match between the Judges and Wesleyan, going five sets (25-17, 25-21, 15-25, 23-25, 15-12). The Judges started off strong, gaining a 16-9 lead over the Wesleyan Cardinals and maintained that lead throughout the set. The Judges kept this momentum through the second set with a combined seven kills from Maddie Engeler ’16 and Shea Decker-Jacoby ’19, and one kill from Jessica Kaufman ’18 which closed out the set to make it 25-21.
Wesleyan pulled ahead of Brandeis in the third match and secured the set. However, the Judges were determined to not let their victory slip away, and played neck and neck with the Cardinals the entire fourth set before losing 25-23.
With the fifth set being the ultimate decision of the game, the Judges knew they couldn’t lose again. The Cardinals carried their momentum from their previous two wins into the set, gaining an early 6-3 lead. However, the Judges rallied back with a 5-1 run to make the score 8-7. Engeler led the charge for the Judges in the final set with 15 kills in the game overall. Brandeis setter Marlee Nork ’19 secured the victory for the Judges with an ace to win the set 15-12.
On day two of the Invitational, the Judges dropped both games, one to Amherst and the other to Trinity College. Amherst won the game in 3 sets, 25-16, 25-20, 25-13. The Judges started out the game with the momentum and a 3-0 lead, but Amherst went on an 11-4 run to make the score 11-7 in their favor. The two teams battled until Kaufman’s kill cut the deficit to 14-15. However, Kaufman’s kill wasn’t enough to fire up the team, and Amherst took the next 10 of 12 points to secure the win for the set.
The second set was a close match for a 25-20 victory over the Judges for Amherst. In the third set the Judges tried to rally back but lost the first five points of the set. From here on out Amherst lead the Judges before securing the game with a 25-13 set win.
However, the loss wasn’t all bad for the Judges as their libero Yvette Cho ’19 accumulated 23 digs in the game for a fantastic defensive effort. The Judges’ setter Nork had 20 assists and 4 digs for the game. To round out the first year presence for the Judges was Decker-Jacoby, leading the Judges offense with seven kills.
The third and final game for the Judges brought about a loss as well. The Judges fell to Trinity College in a four set game, 3-1. The Judges opened the game with an early lead of 7-3, which lead to an easy victory for the Judges in the first set by a score of 25-17.
The second set didn’t start off with the same energy as the first for the Judges and Brandeis fell into a quick 9-2 deficit. The Judges battled back toward the end of the second set, coming within one at 19-20, but could not secure the victory, losing 19-25.
The third set looked like the tide changer for the Judges, as they started the set with a 9-5 lead. Led by Summer Koop ’16 and Zara Platt ’19, the Judges locked down a combined six kills in a short period of time. The Judges continued fighting, gaining a 24-22 lead. However, they couldn’t finish the job as two kills from Trinity College sealed the deal and gave the 26-24 win to Trinity.
The Judges fought back again in the fourth set, going point for point with Trinity until at 15 all, Trinity went on a 10-3 run for the set victory of 25-18 and the game as well.
The Brandeis Women’s volleyball team plays at home this Saturday against Vassar at 2 p.m. and Babson at 4 p.m.
