The Brandeis volleyball team faced its first test against fellow University Athletics Association teams this weekend. The round robin tournament was hosted by New York University at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan. The UAA conference is notoriously stacked with talent – with conference rivals Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Emory University, New York University and the University of Washington-St. Louis qualifying for the National Collegiate Athletics Association tournament. The NYU Violets even made an impressive run to the NCAA semifinal where they lost to Juniata College, ending their season in the top four in the country. This season, the Emory Eagles are currently ranked seventh in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Fellow UAA teams have also joined them in the AVCA Top 25: UWash is ranked eighth, NYU follows in 13th and Case Western sits at 21st. 

The University of Chicago Maroons, ranked just outside the AVCA Top 25, were the Judges’ introduction to UAA action this season on Sept. 28. The Judges lost in three straight matches, falling 25-20 in the first and 25-14 in the second. They fought back in the third set, achieving a .433 hitting percentage against the Maroons and overcoming two match points. However, UChicago was able to close the set, concluding their win at 27-25. 

 The standout for offensive plays came from Anna Ertischek ’26, who racked up 11 kills. Isabella Irizarry ’28 led with a match-high eight digs and Julia Liang ’27 made 10 assists as the Judges ended the game with their sights set on a rebound during their second game of the day versus NYU. 

The Judges were hungry for a win and put up a fight versus the Violets, losing a close first set 25-21 before gaining momentum. The Judges found forward movement thanks to Lara Verstovsek ’25 and Ertischek ’26, who each ended the game with double digit kills, and won a decisive 25-16 second set. However, they were unable to capitalize on this momentum, losing the following second and third sets, 19-25 and 15-25. 

Overall, Verstovsek ’25 finished the game with 12 kills, seven digs and six service aces. Ertischek ’26 had 10 kills, closing out an impressive showing on Saturday with two games of double digit kills. In addition, Irizarry ’28 also made 17 digs and Alexa Ho ’28 contributed 19 assists. 

The day ended with an impressive collection of individual performances, but much was left on the table in terms of team success. Attack errors made in late sets of each game gave up important ground, making both games less than ideal for the Judges. 

Turning to Sunday, the Judges faced another challenging game. This time at the hands of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans. CMU went on a first set tirade, winning 25-17 after earning 11 of the first 12 points, five of which came from Brandeis attack errors. The Judges were able to find some fight in the second set, but still lost 25-21. As they kept battling in the third set, Brandeis started with a 6-0 lead to begin a comeback. Unfortunately, they let a 11-3 run from the Tartans overwhelm their defense on the way to what became a 25-19 loss, resulting in another three straight set defeat for the Judges. 

Even though the Judges finished ahead of CMU in terms of kills, making 38 to the Tartans’ 26, they still got tripped up offensively with errors and weaker service. Carnegie Mellon had 11 service aces to Brandeis’ three, and made only nine attack errors to Brandeis’ 17. 

Verstovsek ’25 led the team with kills for the second game in a row, ending with 12 total and also adding 10 digs. Ertischek ’26 nailed eight kills and Ava Ferrigno ’27 had the most digs out of any player in the match with 13. 

The Judges returned home without a win after putting up with stiff UAA competition. Looking ahead to their Oct. 5 match versus Wellesley College, Brandeis hopes to gain back some confidence and prepare for their next UAA meeting on Oct. 13, where they face the University of Washington and Case Western University.