With next weekend's University Athletic Association Championships on the horizon, the volleyball team hoped to secure some momentum-boosting wins on their home court this past Saturday.

A pair of tough losses to Connecticut College and Endicott College on Senior Day, by 3-2 and 3-0 margins respectively, overshadowed a 3-1 win at Lasell College earlier in the week, leaving the Judges with a 9-22 record heading into the UAA competition.

"To be honest, even in the sets we lost, overall I thought our defensive effort was impressive," said head coach Michelle Kim, who was able to take a number of positive notes from the defeats.

"We touched a lot of balls and kept them alive [when they looked like they were going out of play]. We wouldn't have won those points unless we were aggressive on defense. We had great hustle."

Brandeis rallied to win the second set, 25-20, after dropping the first set by a 25-21 margin to the Camels. Despite taking a five-point lead at the beginning of the third set, the visitors took the third set with a 25-18 win, the match's largest margin of victory.

Not to be outdone, the Judges responded with a fourth-set victory of their own, coming back to win 25-22, which seemingly paved the way for the hosts to win the final set.

Though they set themselves up for a potential win, the Judges ultimately fell 15-12 in the tiebreaker, giving Conn. College the victory.

Outside hitter Liz Hood '15 had a team-leading 21 kills. Outside hitter Si-Si Hensley '14 achieved a double-double-the 25th of her career-recording 14 kills and 11 digs. Setter Maggie Swenson '16 had an impressive 50 assists to tie her career best, while libero Elsie Bernaiche '15 had 26 digs, one shy of a season-best effort.

In the match versus Endicott, the Gulls came out the quickest, taking the first set by a slender 25-21 margin to go 1-0 up in the match. That motivated the hosts to turn in a stronger effort in the second set, jumping out to a 17-6 lead. At that point, the Judges seemingly wrapped up the set.

However, the tables would quickly be turned on the Judges. Endicott stormed back to steal a win, outscoring Brandeis 20-7 to take the set by two points, 26-24.

The Gulls then downed the Judges 25-17 in the third set to s
ecure the match victory.

Hood led the Judges with 12 kills, Hensley led all players with 21 digs and Yael Einhorn '14 recorded a team-high 25 assists.

Earlier in the week, the Judges broke a 21-21 first-set tie to win by a 25-23 margin. Even though Lasell jumped out to an early lead in the second set, Brandeis made sure to re-capture the edge, taking the second set by a decisive 25-17 margin.

Lasell wasn't done though. The Lasers built a nine-point lead midway through the third set and ultimately took that round by a 25-22 score.

Despite the spirited effort of its opponents, Brandeis closed out the match with a dominant 25-18 victory in the fourth set.
Hood led the team with 13 kills. Libero Amaris Brown '16 converted a team-high 15 digs for the Judges while Einhorn collected a team-high 34 assists.

The Judges will host their first game of the UAA Championships in Gosman Recreation and Convocation Center against Washington University in St. Louis on Friday at 12 p.m.