The volleyball team's first University Athletic Association round-robin tournament last month was the low point of its season, featuring a collapse in a 3-2 loss to New York University. The Judges' second UAA round robin this weekend, however, ended in a completely different fashion.With a 3-0 win over host Case Western Reserve University Sunday, the Judges clinched the third seed in their postseason conference tournament, their highest in several years. The squad went 3-1 during the tournament, with victories over the University of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon University Saturday and a loss to No. 7 Washington University in St. Louis Sunday, finishing UAA play with a 4-3 record. Brandeis now stands at 18-6 on the season following a 3-1 loss to Tufts University Tuesday.

"The players definitely came to play, and we just came out on fire," coach Michelle Kim said.

In a Sept. 30 match against NYU in their first UAA round robin this season, the Judges won the first two games and led 21-12 in the third, but the Violets mounted a furious comeback and won 3-2, dropping Brandeis' match record to 1-2 at that tournament.

The Judges' 4-3 UAA record tied them for third place with Carnegie Mellon, but they earned the third seed thanks to their earlier win over the Tartans. Brandeis will get a chance to avenge its crushing loss to NYU when the Judges play sixth-seeded Violets in the first round of the tournament Nov. 2.

In their second match Sunday, against Case Western, the Judges won three straight games, 30-19, 30-27 and 30-24. Outside hitter Lorraine Wingenbach '09 led the way with 19 kills, 12 digs, two aces and two blocks. Setter Abby Blasco '11, who won the UAA Volleyball Player of the Week award for her performance in last weekend's Midcoast Classic, picked up where she left off by contributing 36 assists, 15 digs, six kills and three aces.

"We were able to take them out of their game pretty quickly, and we never let up," setter Violette Ruggiero '09 said. "We were serving tough against them, and they couldn't respond to our offense."

While the win over Case Western clinched the third seed for the Judges, their most important victory may have been their win over Carnegie Mellon Saturday.

Brandeis hadn't defeated the Tartans since the 1997 season, and things didn't look promising in the fourth game of Saturday's match, as the Tartans led two games to one and had rallied from an 11-point deficit to force a match point. The situation mirrored the team's earlier loss to NYU, but this time, the Judges rallied from three match points to win the game 35-33, taking the match 25-30, 30-21, 22-30, 35-33, 16-14.

"For three years now we haven't even taken a game from [Carnegie Mellon], so being able to take a match, it felt really good," Ruggiero said.

The Judges' only loss came Sunday against No. 7 WashU, but they pushed the Bears hard, winning the first game 30-27 before losing the final three, each by the score of 30-25. Wingenbach led the team with 17 kills, 14 digs and two blocks, while rookie outside hitter Elizabeth Villalino '11 had 13 kills and a .364 hitting percentage in the defeat.

The Judges' other victory came against Chicago Saturday. The team lost the first game 30-26 but rebounded to win the next three 30-26, 30-22, and 30-20.

Wingenbach said everyone on the team contributed to the strong performance over the weekend.

"I think that our wins this weekend were a total team effort, and we couldn't have done it without everyone," she said.

The tournament was a nice bounce back after last Tuesday night's 3-1 home loss to Tufts University, which snapped the team's streak of 17 straight wins in home matches. The Judges won the third game after losing the first two, but after pulling to a 25-25 tie in the fourth game, they lost the final five points in the loss.

Ruggiero said the team responded well over the weekend after the disappointing loss to Tufts, a team with a record below .500.

"I think we were kind of worried that we had plateaued, but this weekend we were really able to come through," she said.

The Judges next play in the Hall of Fame Tournament at Amherst, Mass. Oct. 19 at 4 p.m.