Teamwork and playing as a unit in the face of adversity makes a good team. The Brandeis women's volleyball team came together this past weekend without their starting setter or libero, and put up their best fight in an effort to defeat their UAA foes.

The team traveled to Chicago for its second UAA Round Robin competition last weekend. Looking to improve on their 8-8 record, the Judges felt poised, ready to win and excited to compete. However, they entered the weekend knowing that they would be missing two of their key players, Captain and setter Shannon Eagan '05 and rookie libero Shannon Trees '08. Without Eagan or Trees, Coach Michelle Kim was forced to create a new lineup that the team had only been practicing for a week. In the new lineup, rookie Ashley Powers '08 stepped in to fill the large shoes left by Eagan, while Laura Kurz '07 stepped into the libero position for Trees. While Powers is an excellent setter, it is not her usual position. The Judges faltered and ended an unsuccessful weekend with an 8-12 record.

The Judges closed out their rough weekend facing off against the nationally ranked Washington University. The sixth ranked Bears dominated the Judges in a three game sweep, 30-25, 30-14 and 30-22. Although the Bears came out on top, the Judges gave it all they had left from a tough weekend. Jenna Polinsky '06 paced the team offensively with five kills, while Powers and middle hitter Dominique Dupont-Dubois '07 led the team defensively with five digs.

"We fought pretty consistently throughout the entire match and kept up the communication," Jen Lobban '05 said. "But we were playing with a new lineup and people were in different positions than they had been in the beginning of the season."

Going into their Sunday matches, the Judges looked to improve on the some of their weaknesses that halted their game on Saturday.

"After the first day we really wanted to focus on playing as a team," Becca Segal '05 said. "People stepped up as leaders on the court and took charge. We also played smart on the second day and we recognized that adjustments needed to be made on offense depending on the other team's defense."

Before their tough bout with Washington University, the team squared off against Carnegie Mellon University in its first match of the day on Sunday. Though the Tartans beat the Judges in a three game sweep, the Judges played tough keeping two of the games close. However, the Judges lost in the end, as Carnegie won the match 30-27, 30-23 and 30-17.

The Judges put up an intense fight as Lobban led the offense with 13 kills while Polinsky followed closely with 10 kills. Polinsky also recorded the defensive high 12 digs. Lobban finished the first match of the day with one solo block, the only solo block of the match for the Judges.

On the first day of competition the team felt confident heading into their first match versus the Case Western Reserve University Spartans on Saturday. Though they played extremely tough, Case prevailed in the end, finishing off the Judges in the fifth set of the match. Although the Judges did not come out on top against the Spartans, they did keep the competition tough as the Judges dropped the first game 30-24, but won the middle two games 30-28 and 30-21. The Judges, however, faltered in the fourth and fifth games, dropping both by score of 30-22 and 15-9.

"We could have and should have won," Becca Segal '05 said. "After we won the middle two we got a little over confident, but our defense was very strong. I think mentally they just outplayed us and we didn't adjust."

"We were evenly matched with Case," Kim said. "They picked up their defense in the last two games and we panicked," Kim Said.

Polinsky paced the team both offensively and defensively. She recorded 16 kills on offense and an astonishing 18 digs on defense. Segal and Lobban each recorded five solo blocks.

Immediately after coming off of the tough loss to Case, the Judges looked to their next competition, nationally ranked Emory University, currently ranked #15. The team looked not to focus on winning knowing that Emory would not be an easy team to compete with, yet rather to focus on playing as a team and working on their new line-up. The Eagles ultimately swept the Judges in three games, 30-13, 30-18 and 30-13.

Again Polinsky led the team offensively and defensively with four kills and five digs. In this match, Segal was the only person on the team to record a solo block, finishing with three.

"It is emotionally and physically tough to play five games then go play the #15 team," Kim said. "Our serve receive broke down and we were just mentally drained."

"We knew, going into the match that they were a great team," said Segal. "We just wanted to work on playing as a team but they just ended up whipping us around."

Although the Judges did not fare as well as they had hoped to last weekend, they played each of their opponents tough and worked to improve on playing in the new line-up as much as possible.

Though they went 0-4 for the weekend, Kim was not disappointed with her team's performance.

"Playing two games in a row and giving it your all for two straight games for two straight days is tough," Kim said. "I'm glad we're playing these good teams and I'm not happy we lost, but we will improve just by playing them."

With Eagan expected back this week, the team will move closer toward its old lineup. The familiarity of the old lineup should help the team in succeeding in the games to come.

"With the switch back to the old lineup, we are just focused on playing together, playing as a team, controlling what we can control," Kim said.

This week the team will leave their second UAA Round Robin behind them and focus on the competition that lies ahead. They will look to improve on a few weaknesses before heading to Medford on Tuesday to take on Tufts.

"We still need to work on our serve receive so we can be a more consistent passing team," Segal said.

"The team needs to get used to the new lineup a little more going into the next few matches," Lobban said. "But we improved the most this weekend on staying positive even when we were down in the matches."

The Judges will switch gears and look to continue their dominance of New England area teams as they work to improve on their 8-12 record this week and weekend. They face Tufts on Tuesday and then head to South Hadley this weekend for the Hall of Fame Invitational.