The young volleyball team finished its first tournament of the season with a second-place tie, leaving it with a solid 2-2 record at this weekend's Springfield College Invitational. The Judges won their Friday match against Roger Williams 3-0 and took their first match on Saturday against Suffolk College 3-0 before dropping the two final matches of the tournament against Rhode Island College 3-1 and eventual champion Springfield College 3-0.

Outside hitter Lorraine Wingenbach '09 and middle hitter Jenna Polinsky '06 both earned all-tournament honors for the Judges.

With a team of four first-years, four sophomores and two seniors, the Judges are trying to get over their lack of experience to have a winning season, and coach Michelle Kim said that she was surprised by the performance of her young team.

"It's not like we have a group of veterans playing together," Kim said. "It's a very young team, it's almost like having a brand new team since there are so many new people. So naturally there will be some growing pains, but I thought they played very well."

The team came into Saturday's match against Rhode Island College strong after winning their first two matches. Despite a few solid individual performances, the team dropped the tightly contested game with scores of 31-33, 30-20, 23-30 and 28-30.

Outside hitter Jenny Sandler '08 had a strong performance with 17 kills and 16 digs, and Wingenbach posted a career-high 19 digs as well as 12 kills. Team setter Violette Ruggiero '09 also had a strong showing with 30 assists and seven service aces.

"It's a tough match to lose," Kim said. "One of the things we need to get used to is playing in a tournament format. That was our second match in a row and I think sometimes fatigue-physically and mentally-plays a factor, and we just have to learn to play through it."

Kim said that the team's preseason schedule may have affected the Judges' endurance.

"It was a very short preseason," Kim said. "A week after we started practice we entered into the tournament, so it's been a tiring week for us. We've been doing two practices a day until the tournament and [Monday] was actually [the team's] first day off."

Polinsky said that she felt that teamwork would be a focus for the mostly young team.

"We'll become more comfortable together as time goes on," Polinsky said. "With so many new players, we haven't really had a chance to play together before this weekend, so it really showed us how much potential we have and that we can improve and become a really strong team."

Despite the losses to Rhode Island and Springfield, Kim said that the tournament left her more confident about the team's chances this season.

"The entire team is made up of very hard working players," she said. "It's a good thing going into the season knowing that they're all willing to work hard to improve their game."

The Judges next travel to MIT on Wednesday before leaving for Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. to play Endicott and Clark University.