This past Sunday, the Brandeis women’s volleyball team competed in the second round of the University Athletic Association’s (UAA) volleyball round robin. The event was held in Atlanta, GA at Emory University.
The Judges’ first opponent of the day was Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). Both teams battled hard and pushed the game to five sets. The CWRU Spartans took an early lead on the Judges, winning the first set 25-16. The Judges were quick to answer back in the second set, winning it 25-23. The third set ended with the Spartans winning 25-16.
Once again, the Judges fought back and put themselves right back up there with the Spartans, winning the fourth set 25-20, thus pushing the match to a fifth set. The fifth and final set amplified just how evenly matched the two teams were, and continuously alternated which team was in the lead.
Unfortunately, after pushing the set to a short overtime, the Spartans defeated the Judges 16-14. Although the Judges did not get the result that they were hoping for, there were some positives.
Three players surpassed their career highs of digs in this match, Emma Barlett ’20 with 17, Amelia Oppenheimer ’23 with 25 and Kaitlyn Oh ’22 with an astonishing 48, surpassing her previous career high by 12 digs. Marissa Bogert ’21 also achieved a career high of 43 assists.
The second game of the day was not as eventful for the Judges. The match ended in defeat after losing three straight sets to opponents from the University of Chicago Maroons. The first set was 25-14. The second set was much closer; they went into overtime, but the Maroons won in the end 26-24. The last and final set ended with a score of 25-19, with a final score of 3-0. The Maroons played a better game on both sides of the court.
Chicago’s hitting percentage was 0.274, as opposed to the Judges’ 0.059. The teams tied in blocks, each with six, and the Maroons won the battle of digs 63-51. The Judges did however serve more aces than the Maroons 9-5.
Despite these losses, the Judges played quite well earlier in the week against tough competition. On Thursday night, the Judges took on Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Engineers. It was a well-matched game but the Judges ended up winning in four sets. They took an early lead, winning the first set 25-15.
The Engineers answered back, however, by winning the second set 25-23. The Judges were quick to shut down the Engineers by winning the third and fourth sets 25-19 and 25-22 respectively. The wow factor about this game however was not the win—Brandeis’ very own Oh was featured on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top Ten plays of the night. The highlighted play was a dig that Oh completed with her foot, earning the Judges a point when WPI thought the play was already over.
Stay tuned as the Judges take on the Babson College Beavers and the Endicott College Gulls in a tri-match this Saturday on the road.
