Despite playing the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III New England Volleyball Championship game at home last Saturday afternoon, the top-seeded Judges failed to end the season on a winning note.
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No. 2 Western New England University defeated the Judges 3-1 by scores of 25-16, 17-25, 25-17 and 25-21.

Before losing to WNE, the Judges also defeated No. 5 Salve Regina University 3-0 on Saturday morning and No. 8 Albertus Magnus College 3-0 on Friday night.
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WNE, 25-7, recorded 22 block assists and a 0.138 hitting percentage for their first ECAC Championship win, while the Judges, finishing the season at 21-14, ended the game with six block assists and a 0.56 hitting percentage.
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"They're a great team," said coach Michelle Kim about WNE. "They put up a big block. We didn't have the best hitting day, and unfortunately, when you play a good team like this, when your game isn't on and you don't have that 'A' game, chances are that you're going to probably lose that game unless you just rely on their errors, so that was kind of hard."
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Outside hitter Liz Hood '15, a University Athletic Association Honorable Selection as well as an American Volleyball Coaches Association All-New England Honorable Mention, played alongside libero Elsie Bernaiche '15 for a team-high 13 kills. Outside hitter Si-Si Hensley '14 also contributed 11 kills. Despite recording 41 kills, the Judges committed 33 errors in the match.
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Middle blocker Lauren Berens '13, who played her last match for the Judges in the loss to WNE, thought the squad battled rigorously.
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"As my last game, I'm a little disappointed that we lost obviously, but I think that we did fight really hard, and I can't really be mad about how anyone played," she said.
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In the first set, the Judges committed 12 errors and led for only one point. The Judges trailed 14-12 in the set within reach for a comeback, until WNE won five consecutive points to put the set out of reach for the home squad.
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The Judges rebounded in the second set to win the first three points, and never trailed for the remainder of the set. The squad had 12 kills compared to six errors.

Despite leading WNE 12-11 midway through the third set, the Golden Bears won four straight points, forcing Kim to call a timeout.
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After the stoppage in play, WNE captured the next two points, and although the Judges came back to within three points, WNE won six out of the last seven points in the set.
The final set of the match was yet another close battle, but the Golden Bears again won four consecutive points to increase their lead to 14-10. The Judges eventually went on a three-point winning streak to make it 15-13, but WNE never allowed for the Judges to take the lead.

Before the loss to WNE, the Judges defeated Salve Regina in the semifinal match 25-17, 25-23 and 25-20.
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The Judges committed 37 kills and 11 errors in the win. Hood once again led the squad with 10 kills, while middle blocker Carly Gutner-Davis '15 had three of the eight block assists recorded by the Judges.
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In the squad's first match, the Judges blanked Albertus Magnus, the lowest seed in the tournament, by scores of 25-9, 25-13 and 25-12.

The Judges recorded 48 kills, 16 of which were from Hood. Berens finished second on the squad with six kills.
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With the season now over, the Judges will graduate Berens, middle blocker Becca Fischer '13, and defensive specialist and outside hitter Susan Sun '13.

Despite those losses, the squad will return 11 of their members, only two of whom will be seniors next fall.
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Although the Judges did not capture the ECAC title, they won more than 20 games and advanced to the championship match for the first time since 2007. For those reasons, as well as the team's improvement from a 9-21 record last season, both Kim and Berens thought this season was a success.
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"I'm extremely proud of this team," said Kim.

"We set a lot of goals coming into the season, and we accomplished many of them. I'm extremely proud of this team for working hard during the season and getting to where we got this season."

"I think we worked on a lot of different throughout the tournament, and you could see them come together by the end," Berens said.

Given the progress the squad showed this year, along with the return of key members, the Judges may continue to progress next season.