The volleyball team got back to a .500 record for the first time since Sept. 3 after going 1-2 in a competitive weekend of conference play at the UAA round-robin on Oct. 1 in Cleveland, followed by a 4-1 No. 2 finish at the Crabtree Classic at Eastern Connecticut State University on Sunday. Lorraine Wingenbach '09 was named to the Crabtree Classic All-Tournament Team. The Judges are 10-10. In the UAA round-robin, the team suffered a 3-0 loss to nationally ranked NYU in its first UAA match of the season before bouncing back to defeat Case Western Reserve 3-1. The Judges finished the tournament with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Washington University in St. Louis, the No. 1-ranked team in the country.

"I knew that NYU and Wash U were going to be tough," coach Michelle Kim said. "I just wanted us to play well, get some experience, and learn from playing some of the better teams."

Wingenbach carried the Judges in the round-robin with 38 kills, 24 of which came in the second match against Case Western. Violette Ruggerio '09 tallied 74 assists.

Brandeis suffered its only loss of the Crabtree Classic in a back-and-forth opening match against host Eastern Connecticut. The Judges won the first game 32-30, but dropped the next two. Brandeis won the fourth game 30-25, forcing the Warriors to rally for a 15-13 fifth-game win.

Jenny Sandler '08 led Brandeis with 22 kills and 15 digs.

"It definitely was not as strong of a tournament as our conference play, and I was hoping we were going to come away 5-0." Kim said.

The Judges bounced back to blow out Johnson and Wales 3-0 with games of 30-28, 30-18 and 30-16. Wingenbach led the team with 13 kills while Becca Schwartz '09 chipped in with eight.

Against another challenging opponent in Wheaton College, Brandeis opened the match with two solid wins of 30-26 and 30-17 before losing the third and fourth games. Brandeis clinched the match with a 15-13 win in the fifth game.

Babson and Lassell Colleges proved no competition for the rising Judges, Brandeis shut out both teams 3-0 to finish the tournament.

Brandeis travels to St. Louis this weekend to continue UAA competition in the second round-robin. The Judges will go up against Carnegie Mellon and the University of Rochester on Saturday and finish with Chicago and Emory on Sunday.