Problems with ball control and passing contributed to a sixth-place finish for the volleyball team in the Hall of Fame Tournament at Smith College last weekend. "This [past] weekend overall we struggled with our ball control and passing, and when you can't pass the ball very well, our offense becomes very predictable, and it's hard to put the pressure on the other team," coach Michelle Kim said.

Competing in the eight-team "Gold Bracket" of the tournament, the Judges lost to third-seeded Wellesley College in straight sets last Friday. Last Saturday, the team defeated Bowdoin College 3-0 before dropping the fifth-place match 3-1 to Williams College.

After the tournament, Brandeis stands at 14-11 on the season, including 3-4 in conference play.

Brandeis played Williams last Saturday afternoon in the fifth-place match, falling to the Ephs in four sets. With the win, the Ephs were able to avenge their 3-1 loss to the Judges at the Brandeis Invitational earlier this season.

Last weekend, the Judges dropped the first two sets 25-14 and 28-26, respectively, but took the third set 25-18 before Williams was able to close Brandeis out with a 25-19 victory in the fourth set. Right-side hitter Piera Carfagno '10 registered 14 kills and five blocks in the losing effort, while setter Abby Blasco '11 had 40 assists.

"We came out flat against them. They have a good defense, and we just couldn't put anything away," Abby Blasco said.

Earlier that day, Brandeis defeated Bowdoin 25-19, 25-13, 25-22 to earn a spot in the fifth-place match. Outside hitter Paige Blasco '11 had a well-rounded effort with nine kills, 12 digs and two blocks, while outside hitter Lorraine Wingenbach '09 was credited with seven kills, eight digs and two blocks. Libero Violette Ruggiero '09 added 17 digs.

"It's obviously a good win coming off a disappointing loss [to Wellesley] the night before, . but even in [the Bowdoin] match, we still weren't sharp with our passing," Kim said. "Fortunately, we were the better team, I think, just in execution, and we were able to pull off a win there."

Brandeis lost to Wellesley 25-22, 25-15, 25-17 the opening night of the tournament last Friday. Paige Blasco had 12 digs and seven kills, while her twin sister Abby had 22 assists and 10 digs.

Brandeis is 0-2 against Wellesley this season, having already lost a home match 3-1 Sept. 9. Wellesley remains the only non-conference foe to defeat the Judges at home.

"They just played a little bit better, and we couldn't really respond," said Wingenbach of last weekend's loss to Wellesley. "We couldn't get into a rhythm offensively, and so we were giving them a lot of free balls, and they were just hitting it right back at us."

The Judges' struggles in the passing game-referred to by the team as playing "out of system"-prevented the offense from running quick plays and creating opportunities for the outside hitters, Kim said. It subsequently put the opposition in better position to block shots as well.

Wingenbach said that when the passing was effective, the team struggled in other facets of the game.

"Everything didn't gel together," she said. "When our defense and our passing was on, our offense was off, so we didn't really put the two aspects of the game together."

The Judges were seeded sixth heading into the tournament, and while the team ultimately came in sixth place, players were still not satisfied by the end result.

"I kind of agree with the ranking because we haven't done so well the last few weeks, . but we definitely should have come out with some better wins," Abby Blasco said.

Paige Blasco represented Brandeis on the all-tournament team, tallying a combined 36 digs and 27 kills in three contests.

Brandeis will host the Judges Classic Friday and Saturday, where the squad will square off against non-regional opponents Baruch College, Moravian College and the State University of New York at Geneseo.