The women's volleyball team made the most out of its home court advantage last week.

Brandeis earned three out of four wins at the Brandeis Invitational against Rhode Island College, McDaniel College and Babson College last weekend. However, the squad suffered losses to Tufts University and Wellesley College in the home opener last Wednesday.

Brandeis ended the week with a resounding 3-1 victory over Rhode Island College, winning by margins of 25-19, 25-17, 22-25 and 25-21.

Outside hitter Liz Hood '15 led the way with 14 kills, while setter Yael Einhorn '14 had another strong game with 44 assists.

The Judges roared right out of the gate with 11 kills and just two errors in the first set while notching 17 kills against three errors in the second set. After falling 25-22 in a hard fought third set and trailing by 18-10 in the fourth set, the Judges lost the momentum. Suddenly, Rhode Island College seemed poised to take the match to a tie-breaking fifth set.

The Judges would not go away easily, though. They rattled off four straight points to cut the deficit in half, bringing the score to 18-14. After Rhode Island College extended its lead to 20-15, Brandeis went on a 9-0 run and found itself one point away from taking the match. After RIC drew to within one with a kill, middle blocker Becca Fischer '13 took care of the rest, sending a kill down the middle to end the match.

The Judges have trailed by one or two sets in many different occasions this season. Unlike last season, though, the team is able to claw back and win in crucial moments.

"Our team this year is really supportive of each other," Einhorn said. "Even when we find ourselves in trouble, we can help each other, push each other through tough situations."

Brandeis encountered a similar situation in the morning match last Saturday against McDaniel College. The squad trailed by sets margins of 1-0 and 2-1. Yet the Judges managed to defeat the Green Terror in a thrilling nailbiter by scores of 23-25, 25-20, 18-25, 25-21 and 15-9.

Hood had 20 kills and Einhorn had 49 assists. Defensive specialist Susan Sun '13 also contributed 18 digs.

The Judges, after falling behind 2-1, seemed poised to lose the match. However, the team managed an impressive 16 kills to just two errors. Hood recorded eight of the kills, and the squad took the fourth set 25-21. The Judges seized control from that point, as five different players tallied a kill to give Brandeis a 15-9 win.

The Judges dismantled Babson College on Friday with a 25-18, 21-25, 25-22 and 25-13 victory. Hood led the way with 13 kills, while defensive specialist Elsie Bernaiche '15 had 29 digs. Outside hitter Si-Si Hensley '14 also offered eight kills and 13 digs in the win.

In the team's second game of the night, however, Brandeis fell to local rival Tufts by scores of 25-27, 25-22, 25-20 and 25-19. The Judges committed 29 errors compared to the 16 they committed in their earlier match against Babson, and they suffered in light of their own mistakes.

Bernaiche led the way with 26 digs and Einhorn tallied 30 assists. Hensley also earned 9 kills and 10 digs.

Einhorn stated that the match against Tufts, while a difficult loss, would help them in estimating their abilities against similar University Athletic Association competition.

"We may have lost to Tufts, but we played extremely well," she said. "However, we tend to play at the level of our opponent, which is not necessarily good. Tufts most resembles teams that we will play in the UAA."

Brandeis began the week with a disappointing 3-0 loss to Wellesley College in the home opener by margins of 25-21, 25-19 and 25-20. All three sets were close affairs, but at each moment, Wellesley managed to pull away for the victory.

Hensley led the way with eight kills. Bernaiche had 17 digs, while Einhorn tallied 23 assists.

The Judges look to continue their momentum in a match at Endicott College tomorrow. They then come back home to play Emmanuel College and Colby-Sawyer College on Saturday.