The Brandeis volleyball team suffered a string of tough defeats at the hands of several of their University Athletic Association rivals this past weekend at Washington University in St. Louis. The ladies were swept in successive matches against Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University and No. 4 Emory University. The Judges managed to take a set against New York University but ended up falling by a three-set to one-set margin in the last match of the tournament.

Brandeis, with the set of losses, drops to a 9-17 overall mark and a 1-6 UAA record. The squad also has not won a game since its Oct. 10 road match at Emerson College.

The struggles for the Judges stemmed from their low kill percentage throughout the tournament. Outside hitter Liz Hood '15 was one of the few Judges to record a kill percentage of .300 or better in any of the tournament games. Her performance this weekend represented yet another standout performance for the junior, having just earned the distinction as the ninth player in Brandeis history to record 1,000 kills earlier this year.

Outside hitter Si-Si Hensley '14 and libero Elsie Bernaiche '15 led the charge defensively for the day. Hensley, in fact, led the team in digs against Case Western and Carnegie Mellon while Bernaiche earned that distinction in the matches against NYU and Emory.

The Judges, in their closest match of the tournament on Sunday against NYU, managed to jump out to a 17-14 lead in the first set before losing the lead on an 11-2 rally from the Violets.

In a streaky second set, NYU held a lead as large as nine points before the Judges started to fight back. Brandeis managed to pull within four points but the rally proved to be of no avail as NYU secured a 25-20 victory. The Judges were able to regroup and win the third set 26-24 after many lead changes and a key timeout taken by head coach Michelle Kim.

The Judges capitalized, initiating a five-point rally that concluded with a winning kill from outside hitter Summer Koop '16. By the fourth set, however, the momentum they gained did not last. The Judges gave up 13 consecutive points and NYU dominated en route to a 25-7 victory.
The Judges, before that, ran into a fourth-ranked Emory team that sought vengeance after suffering its first UAA defeat at the hands of the University of Chicago.

The Eagles took care of business, defeating the Judges by final scores of 25-6, 25-15, and 25-11. Koop proved to be a bright spot for the Judges, earning a .500 kill percentage in 12 attempts.
Before that, the Judges squared off against Carnegie Mellon and Case, suffering defeat in both matches. The Tartans gained the upper hand with 25-15, 25-16 and 25-12 margins of victory while the Spartans won 25-20, 25-19 and 25-19.

With these results, the Judges have earned the number seven seed in the upcoming UAA tournament hosted in Gosman Sports and Convocation Center at Brandeis from Nov. 8 to 9.

Meanwhile, the Judges are able to look forward to visits from Mount Holyoke College and Smith College for the Hall of Fame Invitational this weekend.

According to middle blocker Carly Gutner-Davis, the team knows exactly what it needs to improve on moving forward.

"Our team talks a lot about bringing up and maintaining a high level of energy on the court, in warmups, games and practices," she said. "What [our performances this weekend] ultimately came down to is that we struggled to maintain a high and consistent level of energy this weekend and [our energy level] fluctuated. We have to work on bringing and maintaining a consistently high level of energy to the court and work on our consistency as a team."

- Henry Loughlin contributed reporting