After rolling off three consecutive victories at last weekend's Brandeis Invitational, the volleyball squad was defeated by the University of Massachusetts Boston last Saturday in the gold bracket that also featured Trinity College. However, Brandeis still notched top honors in both the bracket and invitational after UMass Boston lost to Trinity College earlier in the day. The invitational also featured Gordon College, Babson College, Trinity, Williams College, Bates College, Dominican University, Rhode Island College and UMass Boston.

The Judges lost 3-1 to UMass Boston with scores of 25-18, 25-15, 22-25 and 25-18.

Coach Michelle Kim thought that UMass Boston's outside hitters and middle blockers played a key role in the Judges' loss.

"Against UMass Boston, we came out flat," Kim wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. "They had big blockers and heavy hitters, and we didn't respond. We will see them later in the season at our end-of-season home tournament, so I am hopeful that we can have a better showing against them then."

Middle blocker Nicole Smith '11 thought fatigue played a role in the team's loss.

"We should've made sure we got enough rest. ... It was hard to stay on our toes and get at the quick balls," Smith said. "However, we definitely played well and even took a game away from them."

Outside hitter/libero Si-Si Hensley '14 had a team-leading nine kills in the match, while Smith and outside hitter Paige Blasco '11 had eight and seven kills, respectively. Setter Abby Blasco '11 had 22 of the team's 27 assists.

Despite the loss to UMass Boston, Brandeis emerged victorious in its first three contests. The Judges kicked off the Brandeis Invitational with a 3-1 victory against Gordon on Friday with scores of 25-8, 25-16, 16-25 and 25-13.

In their second match, the girls were pitted against Bates, who they handily defeated 3-1. The Judges took the first two sets by scores of 25-16 and 25-13, and after losing the third set 21-25, they took the fourth and final set 25-23.

Paige Blasco had a team-leading 19 kills in the match, while Smith and Hensley contriubted with 12 kills of their own in the win

Entering Saturday's gold bracket, the top team in each of the three brackets, the Judges dominated Trinity in a 3-0 shutout. They won the games by scores of 27-25, 25-22 and 25-22.

Paige Blasco had 11 kills and 12 digs, the most of any player on the team,

Overall, Kim was pleased with the team's ability to sweep Trinity.

"In our games against Gordon and Bates, we struggled in set three after taking the first two sets, so it was nice to take Trinity in three straight sets," Kim said in an e-mail to the Justice.

Abby Blasco was the Brandeis representative for the All-Tournament team.

"I thought Abby played solidly this weekend," Kim wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. "She did a good job setting and also playing libero a few sets against Gordon."

Blasco was proud of her performance as well as her team's but she felt that the team had trouble closing out its opponents.

"We could've performed better against the easier teams and improved on not stretching every match to four games," she said.

Before the action at last weekend's invitational, the Judges began the week's play with a miraculous comeback victory against Wellesley College. After dropping the first two games by scores of 25-22, the Judges rallied back to take the next two sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-17. In the fifth set, which is a tiebreaker to 15 points, the Judges prevailed by a score of 15-12.

Smith contributed a team-high 11 kills in the win, while Paige Blasco added an additional nine kills. Abby Blaco had 33 of the team's 39 assists, and she and Hensley led the defensive effort with 14 digs apiece. Defensive specialist Susan Sun '13 fell one dig short of the team lead with 13.

Along with the game against Wellesley, Abby Blasco felt that the games "provided a good preview of what the region is going to look like."

Looking ahead to the team's future, Kim hopes that her team's defense will improve.

"We need to be more aggressive on defense and be more consistent in our overall play, and we'll continue to work on that at practices," Kim wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

The team continues play tonight at home against Endicott College at 7 p.m.