The volleyball team continued to impress last week, taking two out of three matches to improve to a 7-3 record on the year. Before an extremely close 3-2 loss to Colby-Sawyer College to end the week, the Judges pulled off 3-1 wins against both Emmanuel College and Endicott College.

Coach Michelle Kim was impressed with the team's ability to set the tone of play.

"Going into the weekend, we had a goal of jumping out to fast starts, especially after our failure to do that against Endicott," she said. "We were able to do that in New London against Emmanuel and Colby-Sawyer. I was extremely proud, we are really coming together as a team."

Setter Yael Einhorn '14 was pleased with the team's mentality during the week's matches.

"The team did very well with staying positive," she said. "Volleyball is a tough sport mentally because you need to immediately get over mistakes so you can focus on the next point. Staying positive has been a struggle for our team in practices and in games, so it was really nice to see everyone improve on that this week."

In their last match of the tournament last Saturday, the team took on Colby-Sawyer. The match went down to the wire with five sets, but the Judges could not seal the deal and lost 3-2. Brandeis was defeated by scores of 25-17, 24-26, 25-22, 17-25 and 14-16. The Judges jumped out to a dominating victory in the first set but soon began to falter, losing in a 26-24 marathon second set that went into overtime. The Judges quickly recovered, proceeding to take another closely contested third set. However, the Judges grew tired and dropped the next two sets.

Earlier in the day, the Judges extended their winning streak to five matches by topping Emmanuel 3-1. Brandeis raced out of the gate in the first set, limiting the Saints to a mere 9 points en route to a 25-9 win. The second set was the same story, as the Judges cruised to a 25-15 victory. The Judges briefly lost control of the match in the third set, dropping 25-14, but Brandeis regrouped in the fourth and final set. They battled it out with Emmanuel and came through with a 25-23 victory.

The outside hitters for the Judges set the pace on both sides of the ball. Liz Hood '15 led the team in kills with 16 and added 12 digs, while Si-Si Hensley '14 delivered 14 kills and 13 digs. Libero Elsie Bernaiche '15 threw in 24 digs while defensive specialist Susan Sun '13 chipped in 14 digs. Einhorn added 44 assists.

Last Wednesday, the Judges continued their success from the Sept. 10 Brandeis Invitational with a 3-1 victory over Endicott by scores of 17-25, 25-19, 25-15 and 25-12. Brandeis seemed rusty at the outset, notching just four kills and 11 errors in only 34 attacks in the first set.

The Judges continued to have difficulty at the start of the second set, at one point trailing 12-11. But Hood sparked a comeback, firing three consecutive service aces. Brandeis took control of the match from that point forward, making only six errors in the next three sets and reeling off 14 kills without an error in 32 chances. The team also notched a season-high 12 service aces.

Hood set the tempo for the offense once again, racking up 16 kills and an impressive five service aces. Sun had a well-rounded performance, contributing seven kills, 17 digs and four service aces while Hensley also added 10 kills. On the defensive end, Bernaiche had a career-high 27 digs and Einhorn contributed a season-best 33 assists.

After the matches, Kim pointed out some aspects of play the team could improve upon.

"When we get on the floor, we need to be quick and jump right out of the gate," she said. "We need to avoid these sluggish starts and also attain a level of more consistent play."

The Judges will end their home-stand against Tufts University tonight at 7 p.m. Brandeis will then travel to Amherst College this weekend for the Amherst Invitational.

On Friday, the team will take on Amherst before playing a doubleheader against the Coast Guard Academy and Middlebury College on Saturday.