The volleyball team arrived at the Amherst Classic at Amherst College last weekend with a 7-4 record. However, the team left with a 7-7 record after failing to win a set in their matches against Amherst, the United States Coast Guard Academy and Middlebury College. The final loss of the tournament was the team's fifth in a row.

"We played three very good teams," middle blocker Becca Fischer '13 said. "All [three of of our opponents are ranked] top 15 in New England. We played very well in the last two games against Middlebury; really picking it up as a team."

The Judges lost the first match of the Amherst Classic 25-15, 25-1325-22 to Amherst, despite winning the first 2 points of each set. The Lord Jeffs, who improved to 7-2 with the win, won each of the first two sets comfortably before fighting off the furiously rallying Judges for a slim third-set victory.

After finding themselves down 9-6 in the third set, the Judges moved to within one point of tying the set at 17-16, forcing an Amherst timeout. The timeout proved unsuccessful for Amherst, as the Judges took the next 2 points to go up by 1.

Amherst tallied 3 out of the next 4 points, taking a 20-19 lead. They then extended their lead to 23-21 and held on, eventually taking the set 25-22 to sweep the match.

Brandeis outside hitters Liz Hood '15 and Si-Si Hensley '14 recorded six kills apiece. Setter Yael Einhorn '14 tallied 15 assists, and libero Elsie Bernaiche '15 recorded 12 digs. Middle blocker Lauren Berens '13 had five spikes in the loss.

The Judges fell to the Coast Guard in their second match 25-18, 25-9 and 25-17. Hood and Hensley recorded seven and five kills, respectively. Einhorn racked up 13 assists, and Bernaiche and outside hitter Susan Sun '13 combined for 23 digs in the match.

In the final match of the tournament, the Judges again failed to take a set, losing 25-10, 25-20 and 25-21 to Middlebury. After losing the first set by a large margin, the team picked up its play in the final two sets, ultimately losing both sets. Hood had eight kills and six digs, while Einhorn tallied a match-high 22 assists. Fischer had five kills and three blocks.

Despite the losses, Fischer believes that the team gained valuable experience against tough competition.

"This weekend, coach [Michelle Kim] put a bunch of new players in, which allowed them to get some playing time and also allowed us to grow as a team," said Fischer.

Bernaiche agreed, saying that she was proud of the team's performance in the tournament.

"The teams in the tournament were really good teams," she said. "But it was a great opportunity for us to show how competitive we can be. We didn't really look at the final scores of the matches; we looked at how we performed at different points throughout the games to see how we improved. We don't really see the games as losses."

The team's match against Tufts University last Tuesday seemed to set the tone for last weekend's tournament, as the Judges started slowly but came back strong. However, they were unable to take a set against the Jumbos, falling 25-12, 25-21 and 25-20 as Tufts moved to 6-0 on the season.

The Jumbos ran away with the first set, building an early 12-4 lead. The Jumbos were ahead 16-7 before the Judges made a small push, scoring four points in a row. However, Tufts used a timeout to halt Brandeis' momentum and finished the set with a 9-1 run.

The second set was much closer. The Judges jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but Tufts responded and tied the set at 3-3. The Jumbos went up 11-7, but the Judges responded by taking 5 of the next 6 points, tying the set on back-to-back kills by Hood. The set went back and forth, but the Jumbos closed on a 4-1 run en route to a 25-21 victory.

The third set followed the same pattern, with each team falling behind by a few points and battling back. After the Judges tied the set at 19 apiece, the Jumbos took advantage of a Brandeis error and took 6 of the last 7 points, winning the final set 25-20.

Bernaiche was proud of the way that the team battled back after a tough first game.

"It [was] just about continuing to play when the times are tough," she said. "We're still a really young team, and we're trying to figure out what works for us in games."

"As a team, we realized we needed to eliminate our own errors," added Fischer, referring to the Judges' improved play in the last two sets. "We came together as a team and started playing our own game. A lot of us wanted to prove that we were a better team than the way we played in the first game, because we are."

Hood and Fischer combined for 19 kills against Tufts, including seven from Fischer in the third set. Einhorn recorded her first double-double of the season with 29 assists and 11 digs. Bernaiche had a team-high 12 digs, and Fischer had three blocks. Sun finished with three service aces.

The Judges' next competition is the UAA Round Robin Tournament at Washington University in St. Louis, which starts on Saturday. They will face New York University and WashU on Saturday, followed by Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday.