After going 0-4 in University Athletic Association play in the New York University round-robin tournament two weekends ago, the women's volleyball team went 1-2 in the Hall of Fame Invitational at Smith College, finishing sixth out of eight teams. While the Judges lost to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3-2 in the opening round, they defeated host Smith College 3-0 before falling to Wellesley College 3-0 in the consolation bracket.

Captain and setter Abby Blasco '11 was the sole player from the team to be named to the All-Tournament squad.

Despite defeating Wellesley College 3-1 on Sept. 8 in the Springfield Invitational, the fifth-seeded Judges were swept by the seventh-seeded Blue in the consolation bracket by a score of 25-11, 25-20, 25-23.

Coach Michelle Kim thought her team did not perform nearly as well as it did in its victory over the Blue.

"Wellesley played well against us, and we didn't play them as well as we did earlier in the season," Kim said in an e-mail to the Justice. "We've made more errors this time around, and we didn't hit as efficiently or block as well as we did the first time we played them."

In the losing effort, outside hitter Paige Blasco '11 and captain/right setter Piera Carafagno '10 had a team-leading 11 kills. Abby Blasco contributed with 10 digs and 25 assists of her own.

Before its match against Wellesley, Brandeis defeated host and No. 8 Smith College by a score of 25-9, 25-12, 25-20.

The match was highlighted by the team's defense, as the nine points allowed by the Judges tied the team's total for fewest points allowed in a set this season.

In the match, Paige Blasco led the way for the Judges with 11 kills and a .300 hitting percentage, the fifth time in which she has registered a hitting percentage of .300 or better.

While Abby Blasco had 26 assists in the win, middle blocker Nicole Smith '11 had a career-best five service aces.

In their match against No. 4 MIT, the Judges took the first two sets by a score of 25-21 and 26-24. However, they could not claim the third and final set, as MIT took the three remaining sets with a score of 25-17, 25-19, 15-9.

Kim recognized MIT's strong play while stating that her team could not stop the Engineers' momentum in the later sets.

"The loss against MIT was obviously disappointing for our team," said Kim. "We weren't able to use our momentum going into the third set against them, and instead we let them take the momentum away from us by letting them score consecutive points at the beginning of the third set. MIT picked up its play in the mid to later part of the match, and we weren't able to counter it."

Paige Blasco had a team-leading 19 kills, while she and her sister Abby led the team with 11 digs. Carfagno had 13 kills and a .265 hitting percentage in the loss.

The Judges continue their season with a match against Keene State College Friday, followed by games against SUNY Oneonta and the University of Maine-Machias in the Judges Classic at Brandeis Saturday.