The volleyball team proved it could compete against its more experienced UAA competitors by taking a game from three of its four opponents at the second UAA round-robin this weekend. Even so, the team couldn't string together enough games to take any matches and went 0-4 in the tournament. The Judges dropped conference matches against Carnegie Mellon, the University of Rochester, the University of Chicago and Emory to fall to 10-4 for the season. Washington University had the best showing of the weekend, winning all four matches."I think at some points this weekend, our team broke down," Lorraine Wingenbach '09 said. "It was a tough weekend, but we played our hardest and kept fighting through every point. Things just didn't really fall the right way."

The Judges opened their first match against Carnegie Mellon on Saturday with an encouraging 27-20 win in game one. The Tartans bounced back behind an intense offensive attack and went on to sweep the next three games 30-27, 30-12 and 30-14.

Brandeis faced the University of Rochester the same day, again coming out strong before having the match wrested away from them. Brandes took the first game 30-25 but dropped the rest to the Yellowjackets 30-27, 30-23, and 30-22.

"I think we were very up and down, and we just weren't consistent at all," captain Jenna Polinsky '06 said. "There were points when we played really well, and there were points when we didn't play like a team at all."

In Sunday's opening match against the University of Chicago, the Judges lost the first game 30-25 but bounced back to win the second game by the same score. The Maroons came back strong to take the next two 30-19 and 30-23, handing the Judges another loss.

The match against Emory University, ranked No. 3 in nation, proved the toughest task for Brandeis in the final stretch of a competitive weekend. The Eagles swept the Judges 30-18, 30-10, and 30-20 as the Eagles took home their third win of the weekend.

Despite the loses, Wingenbach said the team can work on its weaknesses in the coming weeks to prepare for the season-ending UAA championship tournament on November 4.

"We are probably going to see most of the teams we played this weekend in the UAA championship," Wingenbach said. "We are going to watch some game film and talk about what happened, but we are definitely still in it."

Brandeis plays Tufts University Tuesday at 7 p.m. in its second home game of the season. The team travels to Amherst, Mass. next weekendfor the annual Hall of Fame Invitational at Smith College.