After upsetting Carnegie Mellon University by a score of 3-1, the volleyball team faced off against Case Western Reserve University and coach Karen Chambers Farell '93 for fifth place in the University Athletic Association Championship in Chicago last Saturday. After splitting the first four sets, the teams moved to a fifth set, in which Case Western narrowly defeated Brandeis 15-12 to take the match. The loss put the Judges in sixth place at the end of the weekend after they opened the championships with two straight losses last Friday.The team finished the regular season with a record of 18-16 (2-9 in UAA play). The Judges did, however, reach the Eastern College Athletic Conference championships, a bid that the team received last season but did not accept due to multiple injuries. This season, the Judges are the No. 2 seed in the ECAC tournament.

In the loss to Case, all five sets were decided by margins of 5 points or fewer, and three were decided by 3 points. The final score was 25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-13.

Coach Michele Kim thought the loss to Case was especially difficult due to the close scores in each of the sets.

"Our match against Case Western was a close match with tight scoring in all five sets," Kim said in an e-mail to the Justice. "It was a tough loss since it was such a close game, and it's always heartbreaking to lose a hard-fought match."

Captain and setter Abby Blasco '11 recorded the first triple-double of her career in the loss, finishing with 11 kills, 12 digs and 42 assists.

"Abby played well this weekend," Kim wrote. "She is our setter so she is in charge of running our offense, and she has improved a lot on distributing sets for our hitters."

Outside hitter Paige Blasco '11 contributed 17 kills and 17 digs of her own in the loss, while captain and right setter Piera Carfagno '10 recorded 12 kills.

On the defensive side, middle blocker Nicole Smith '11 had a career-high 11 blocks, one of which was solo.

Before facing Case Western, the Judges defeated Carnegie Mellon University in four sets by a score of 25-13, 25-18, 27-29, 25-16.

"Winning the Carnegie Mellon match was huge for us since it has been a while since we beat them in the championship weekend," Kim said. "By winning that match, we placed third place in our pool, which meant that we were guaranteed to finish higher than the seventh seed, which is where we entered the tournament."

Paige Blasco registered 20 kills and 13 digs in the win for her 10th double-double of the season. It was the fourth time that she has recorded at least 20 kills this fall.

Outside hitter/middle blocker Bridget McAllister '10 had 11 kills and did not record an error, resulting in a hitting percentage of .367. Abby Blasco contributed as well with 46 assists and 10 digs, resulting in her team-leading 14th double-double.

In the first match of the tournament last Friday, the Judges were swept by defending national champion Emory University 25-21, 25-16, 25-21.

The match was highlighted by the play of the Blasco sisters, as Paige had 12 kills while Abby had 26 assists in the loss.

In their second match last Friday, the Judges were swept by the University of Chicago by a mere total of 6 points. The final score of the match was 25-23, 27-25, 25-23.

Both Paige Blasco and Smith had a team-leading 10 kills, which gave Smith a hitting percentage of .562. The Blasco sisters, along with Carfagno, had a team-high eight digs in the loss.

Brandeis continues its season tomorrow when it hosts No. 7 Colby-Sawyer College in an opening quarterfinal match in the ECAC Tournament. Prior to declining a bid at the ECACs last season, the Judges were the two-time reigning champions at the tournament.

If Brandeis wins tomorrow, it will play Saturday in the semifinals at a place to be determined.