Playing the most games out of any team recently, the Brandeis volleyball team has extended their season record to 11-8 per their most recent match. Since our last article about them, our Judges have traveled to New York for their first UAA Round Robin of the season, and hosted three home matches.
Looking back at late September, the Judges played in a tri-competition after hosting their second Brandeis Invitational of the season. This competition was held at neighboring Babson College, where the Endicott College team also met them. In the Judges’ first game of the day, they won against Endicott in dominant fashion, sweeping the Gulls 3-0. Winning each set in scores of 25-18, 25-20, and 25-18, the Judges never trailed by more than a point at a time. Our volleyball team led with 45 digs over the mere 29 Endicott had.
In their second game of the day, the Judges were not able to maintain their momentum from their three-game-sweep over the Gulls into their match against the Babson College Beavers. The Beaver’s dominance unfortunately left the Judges on the wrong side of the sweep in this case. The hosts held the lead from wire-to-wire in the first set, but the Judges stepped up having secured the lead early into the second set. This did not last long though as the Beavers closed out the set with a 15-4 run. The Judges tried their best to hold the Beavers to a fourth set, though the third unfortunately did not unfold in the Judges’ favor as they ultimately lost 3-0.
Four days later, the Judges faced the Plymouth State University (PSU) Panthers in a home match. The Judges hit the court with a vengeance as they turned around and won this match in a three-set-win once again. This was the first loss for PSU this season. The first set was back-and-forth with three ties and three lead changes. The second set did not look particularly promising for the Judges at first, however, they scored 11-points off of the serve of Julia Liang ’27 that put them back in contention for the set win. The third set allowed the Judges to silence the PSU Panthers, finishing off the three-set-sweep.
This past weekend, the Judges traveled to New York City to play in their first UAA Round Robin of the season. The New York University (NYU) Violets hosted this tournament. The University of Chicago (UChicago) Maroons and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Tartans were also a part of the tournament.
The Judges’ first UAA match of the season and round robin was against the UChicago Maroons. The Maroons are ranked just below the top-25 Division III volleyball teams. Winning this match would have been extremely difficult for the Judges. The set scores were 25-20, 25-14, and 27-25, showing that the Judges nearly pushed play to a fourth set having been so close to out-scoring the Maroons. Anna Ertischek ’26 had 11 kills which led all players in the match.
In their second game of this day, the Judges faced the NYU Violets on their home court. This was the Judges’ best UAA match yet as they were not swept in three matches. Instead, they won the second set 25-16, pushing the match to a fourth set which the Violets ultimately won. Setting up several key plays, Alexa Ho ’28 led the Judges in assists with 19.
In their final match of this UAA round robin, the Judges faced the CMU Tartans before heading back to Waltham. Though the Tartans swept the Judges in set scores of 25-17, 25-21, and 25-19, the most the Judges lost a set by was only eight points. The Judges did put up a good fight against the Tartans who came out strong, scoring 11 of the first 12 points of the first set. Looking at the statistics, Lara Verstovsek ’25 led all players with 12 kills as well as 10 digs. Ava Ferrigno ’27 led all players in digs with 13.
Once the Judges had returned home from New York, they were hungry for a win. Due to their high motivation and honing in on what they needed to improve on, they came out and won their most recent two games.
First, they faced Wellesley College this past Saturday in celebration of the Judges’ Senior Day celebration to commemorate their seniors’ academic and athletic achievements throughout their time representing the navy and white. Being quite efficient with their offensive plays, the Judges did not concede more than two ties or lead changes in any of the sets during this match. Based on this, they hit a season high of .441 with 38 kills and only eight total errors. This was a fantastic way for the seniors to display their prowess on the court.
In their most recent match, the Judges faced the Tufts University Jumbos in Medford this past Tuesday. This match was on the lengthier side as the Jumbos came back from a 0-2 deficit to force the match to go into a fifth set. The Judges got out to a strong start but faltered when the Jumbos stepped it up on the attack. Despite this, the Judges won the final set in a score of 15-8, displaying their dominance in powerful fashion.
Looking ahead, the Judge’s will be in St. Louis, Missouri this weekend for another UAA Round Robin with Washington University and Case Western Reserve University.
