Last season, the women's volleyball team did not have any first-years join the team. This season they have the exact opposite scenario.Five rookies have been recruited to join the squad for the fall season, hoping to help the team bounce back after a disappointing 19-13 finish a year ago.

"Recruiting is a funny thing where you could end up with little or you could end up with a lot," coach Michelle Kim said. "Obviously our initial pool of players that we were considering was definitely bigger [this year]. We had to, because we wanted to yield a lot of players. ... We had a lot of players visit earlier in the season, so they were able to get a good idea about us right off the bat as the application process was initially starting, and I think that helped us as well."

Last year's team was hoping to take the next step and make the NCAA Tournament after winning the Eastern College Athletic Conference New England Division III title in each of the previous two seasons. But injuries late in the year led to a fourth-place finish in the University Athletic Association and the team pulling out of contention for a return bid to ECACs.

This year's recruits come from all over the country, including Susan Sun '13 from Acton, Mass., Becca Fischer '13 from San Antonio, Texas and Anna Homitsky '13 from Seneca Valley, N.Y. Two of the rookies come from Colorado-Lauren Berens '13 from Boulder and Kristee Montijo '13 from Colorado Springs. Berens played for Norsco Volleyball Club this past season, the same club team that setter Abby Blasco '11 and outside hitter Paige Blasco '11 played for in high school.

"I'm expecting [Berens] to be pretty good, because our club is pretty well-known in Colorado and has a lot of good athletes," Paige Blasco said.

The newcomers will provide much-needed depth for a team that struggled when injuries caused girls to play out of position.

For instance, when Abby Blasco missed eight matches last season with a hamstring injury, libero Violette Ruggiero '09 and outside hitter Piera Carfagno '10 had to play setter in her place since the team had no natural backup setter. The team lost six of those eight matches.

"Last year was a hard year because we had so many injuries," Carfagno said. "We also didn't have a big team, which makes practices hard to coordinate, and also if people start getting tired in the game, there are no substitutes."

The rookies will join six returning members from last year's squad, including the Blasco twins. Paige Blasco led the team last year with 339 kills and 377.5 points, while sister Abby Blasco led the squad with 787 assists.

Also returning is Carfagno, who finished third on the team in assists and fourth in points last season. Middle blockers Nicole Smith '11 and Bridget McAllister '10 finished first and second on the team in blocks with 120 and 58, respectively. Rounding out the returnees is libero Lauren Polinsky '11, who was fifth on last year's squad with 1.99 digs per set.

The team did lose three players to graduation last year- libero Danielle Friedman, Ruggiero and outside hitter Lorraine Wingenbach. Ruggiero served as one of the team captains last year and finished third on the team in digs and second in assists/sets.

But losing Wingenbach will be especially hard for the team to overcome. Last season she was also a team captain and finished first on the team in digs and second in kills.

She is also Brandeis' all-time leader with 1,857 kills and is second all-time in aces and digs and was named an honorable mention All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association her junior year.

"We're definitely going to miss [the seniors], but I think this group is up to the challenge," Kim said. "When we graduate a player or two who are very very good, it sort of opens up windows for other players to sort of step up their game and hopefully fill that position. . I think sometimes it promotes a little more of a team effort when something like that happens, when we graduate an All-American player."

With all the rookies on the team this season, chemistry between the newcomers and the rookies will be a key, according to Carfagno.

"I think our goal for this season is really going to try and establish some good on-court chemistry because we have five new girls and we've only got six returners, ... so if we want to get anywhere, we have to have some good chemistry on the court," Carfagno said.

The team opens up its season at Babson College Sept. 1 at 7 p.m.