The women’s volleyball team traveled to Emory University this past weekend for their first of two round-robin weeknds against University Athletic Association opponents, matched up against No. 4 Washington University in St. Louis, University of Chicago and New York University. Although the squad came away without a victory to see their season record fall to 5-13 overall (0-3 in UAA play), the Judges received standout defensive performances from libero Elsie Bernaiche ’15 in all three matches.

The Judges entered Sunday’s matchup against NYU looking to rebound after losses to WashU and UChicago earlier in the tournament but put themselves in too large of a hole in the first set than they were able to dig out of, dropping the set 25-6 and fell in straight sets 25-6, 25-20, 25-19. 

Brandeis put three players in double-digits in digs, led by Bernaiche’s ’15 game-high 15 digs.

“[Bernaiche] was composed all weekend, really producing positive emotion on the court,” said coach Alesia Vaccari. “Her play was consistent all weekend, and she really stepped up for us, keeping the ball in play, and we’re excited for the door that it opens for us the next couple of weeks.” 

Setter Julie Kim ’18 added 14 digs, coupled with 13 assists, for the Judges’ defense, and outside hitter Jessie Moore ’18 contributed 10 digs and six kills in the loss. 

The squad came closest to taking the middle set, climbing out of 3-0 and 7-3 deficits to tie the set at 10-10 when Bernaiche forced an attack error, a ball-handling error and recorded a service ace on three consecutive plays.

The Judges pulled ahead 12-11, but the lead was traded back and forth until the set was tied at 20-20, setting the stage for a 5-0 NYU run that secured the set for the Violets.

On Saturday, the Judges were once again done in by a poor first set in a sweep at the hands of UChicago, dropping the opener 25-6 and losing the game by a 25-6, 29-27, 25-15 score. Bernaiche recorded a game-high 20 digs in the loss. Kim added a double-double for the squad with 16 assists and 10 digs and is now fourth of all UAA players with 474 assists on the year and 7.52 assists per set. 

“[Kim] makes up for her size with everything she does on the court,” said Vaccari. “She wasn’t intimidated on the court, and she's one of our best defensive players behind [Bernaiche]. 

“We force other teams to hit to her because we know we can get some digs out of her.”

The Judges, once again, played their best in the middle frame, using an 8-2 run to grab an early 11-5 lead over the Maroons. 

The squad pushed their lead as far as 18-13 before UChicago came storming back to tie the set at 20-20. The Judges were faced with a set point at 24-22 before rattling off two-straight points to tie the set at 24-24 and grabbed a 26-25 lead to give them a set point. 

However, it was UChicago who ended on the decisive run, grabbing three of the set’s final four points to secure the 29-27 set victory over the Judges. 

The squad managed to put together their most complete game against the fourth-ranked team in the country on Friday, but the result was the same when the Judges squared off against WashU in the round-robin opener, falling in straight sets 25-11, 25-15, 25-11 to the host Bears. 

Bernaiche led the way for the Judges defense with a game-high 11 digs, but she was one of just five players to record a dig on the match for the squad.

 The squad scored eight of the final 13 points of the first set, including a 4-0 run, and five of the final seven points in the second set but dug themselves too deep to pull out an upset over the Bears.

“[The team has to work on] connecting the dots,” Vaccari said. “Coming off the weekend, we know we have the capability  to compete, and we are working on self-confidence, ” she continued. 

“We’ve been talking about what to do after mistakes, ... and it’s great because we still have a lot of the season left.”

The Judges will travel to the second set of UAA round-robin games next weekend, looking to end their losing streak against Case Western Reserve University on Saturday, Oct. 18 and squaring off against No. 3 Emory University and the University of Rochester on Sunday, Oct. 19.