The Brandeis women’s volleyball team traveled to Washington University in St. Louis this past weekend to play in the University Athletic Association (UAA) Conference Championship Tournament. The Judges dropped three games in the tournament, ending their season with a 7-21 record.
In the conference quarterfinals, as eighth seed, the Judges faced top seed University of Chicago in their first game of the weekend. The Judges lost 3-0 by set scores of 25-14, 25-14 and 25-16. The Judges never threatened a lead in the first two sets, but started to fight back in the third set. The Judges kept the lead in the third set until 9-8, before the UChicago Maroons answered with five straight points and momentum to win the game. Shea Decker-Jacoby ’19 led the team with nine kills, nine digs and the team’s only two service aces. Marlee Nork ’19 and Leah Pearlman ’19 split setting duties, while recording 11 assists each. Yvette Cho ’19 held up the team defensively with 13 digs.
Later the same day the Judges took on the University of Rochester in a consolation semifinal game. The women’s volleyball team dropped three straight sets again for a 3-0 loss by scores of 25-23, 25-21 and 25-19. The Judges took an early lead in the first set after errors committed by Rochester on Jessica Kaufman’s ’17 serving. However, Rochester answered with a seven-point run to tie the game. The Judges’ strong defense kept them in the game with two assists and a solo block by Kaufman. In the second set, Rochester started out with the lead before the Judges were able to close the gap, but couldn’t manage to secure the lead. The final set saw the Judges run out of steam, as they couldn’t seem to keep the match as close. The Judges’ strong defense was led with five blocks each form both Kaufman and Kirsten Frauens ’19. Jessie Moore ’18 also contributed four block assists to the effort.
The third game played for seventh place was much closer, going all five sets in the loss against NYU. The teams alternated set wins for it to come down to the fifth match. The NYU Violets took the first set, and the Judges answered with a strong performance in the second set to win 27-25. However, the Judges got crushed in the third set, when the Violets took the lead early and kept it with a 25-13 victory over Brandeis. The Judges went point for point with the Violets until Decker-Jacoby served five in a row, including two service aces, giving the Judges a comfortable lead and eventually holding enough momentum to earn the set win. The Judges started the fifth set strong with five quick points. However, NYU answered to tie the score at 9-all. Brandeis and NYU went point for point until NYU scored the final four points to secure the game win off of blocks.
The Judges stepped up for the third game of the UAA tournament, with big numbers across the board. Emma Bartlett ’20 had a career high of 17 kills in the game, while Decker-Jacoby and Zara Platt ’19 each earned 11 kills. Decker-Jacoby also added 14 digs to her stats, while Pearlman has 20 assists and 12 digs as setter, sharing the position with classmate Nork who contributed 21 assists to the game. Cho recorded 24 digs as libero in the game. Kaufman led the team in blocks with four.
