Working together and achieving a common goal when hardships arise is key to success as a team. With that in mind, the Brandeis women's volleyball team rose to the challenge of playing with a completely new lineup and beat the University of New England and Wheaton College this weekend in Norton, Ma. The Judges' wins improve their record to 8-8.

The team kicked off the weekend with a match against the University of New England Nor'easters. Although the Judges were playing without key player and captain Shannon Eagan '05, due to a reocurring knee injury and with the unfamiliarity of the new lineup, the team managed to beat the Nor'easters 3-1.

Without Eagan in the lineup for the last two games of the match, rookie Ashley Powers '08 was forced to step out of her familiar right side spot and into a new position as the setter, while Katie Wrynn '08 moved from the right side to the outside hitter position and Jenna Polinsky '06 moved to the right side.

Without Eagan as their setter, the team struggled a bit and dropped the third game to New England, an extremely close 30-27. Aside from the third game, the Judges appeared to be the best team on the floor against the Nor'easters as they took the other three games, 30-19, 30-15 and 31-29.

"We were the stronger team," Coach Michelle Kim said. "The line-up changes were too much to handle. It probably wasn't a match that should've gone four games, but we need to learn that when things are different we need to communicate more, all six have to step-up and work together."

Despite their struggles with the line-up change, the team pulled together in the last game to pull off the victory and defeat the Nor'easters. Jen Lobban '05 had a team high 16 kills while Becca Segal '05 and Jenny Sandler '08 followed with 10 kills each. On the defensive side, Wrynn led the team with eight digs and Segal recorded an astonishing six solo blocks.

While the game was much tougher without Eagan, the team did its best pick up the slack.

"We were pretty aggressive," Lobban said. "We tried to compensate by running a faster offense and running new plays. But, if we do need to change line-ups again we need to trust each other more and be more aware of where each person is on the court."

Coming off of their great win, the team took on the host Wheaton College Lyons, for their second match of the day. Having faced Wheaton in the past, the Judges were a little more confident, knowing what to expect this time.

Knowing that the Judges have been the better team in the past, Brandeis pulled through again, this time sweeping the Lyons 3-0 on their home court. Each of the games was close, as the largest margin of victory was just five points. The Judges defeated Wheaton in three games, winning 30-25, 30-26 and 30-28.

During the game against the Lyons, the team felt much more comfortable as Kim decided to switch back to the "more comfortable line-up."

"I think the key to this game was that we stayed aggressive," Kim said. "We went for kills more, we only got three aces but we served them very tough. Lots of their sets were high because we stayed aggressive for the whole game."

Because of the switch back to the old line-up, it was clear that the team became more comfortable and was able to dominate the host Lyons.

Segal paced the team on the offensive side with 11 kills, while Polinsky and Powers followed closely with 10 and eight kills respectively. Eagan recorded a game high 33 assists during the match. Laura Kurz '07 paced the Judges defensively with nine digs while Lobban and Polinsky followed with eight digs each. Segal again led the team with four solo blocks.

Coming off of a 2-0 weekend against quality New England teams leaves the team poised and ready for the tough UAA competition that lies ahead.

The Judges will travel to Chicago this weekend where they will face some of their toughest competition yet. Chicago is 3-6, but the Judges have historically had problems with UAA teams. However, Kim believes in her team.

"We can't give easy serves," Kim said. "We must be aggressive, and we must go hard."

In order for her team to be successful this coming weekend and in the rest of the season, she believes the recipe for success is in the consistency of this team as a whole.

"We have to be consistent," Kim said. "We have to continue to get comfortable with each other, we have to take a few more risks, serve tougher and stay aggressive. When we are aggressive good things happen.