WALTHAM, Mass. - The Brandeis University volleyball team
improved 8-1 on the season tonight with a 3-0 victory over visiting
Endicott College in Red Auerbach Arena. Set scores were 25-19,
25-23, 25-19. The win was the fifth in a row for the Judges while
snapping the Gulls' six-match winning streak.
Brandeis (8-1) was down 5-3 early
in the first set, but ran off seven points in a row, taking a 10-5
lead they would not relinquish on a kill by senior outside hitter
Lorraine Wingenbach (Buffalo, N.Y.). The Judges
went ahead by as many as eight points at 19-11 on an Endicott
error. The Gulls answered with back-to-back kills from senior
middle blocker Hayley Janelle (Madbury, N.H.) and closed to within
19-16 after three Brandeis error, prompting Brandeis coach Michelle
Kim to call timeout. EC committed a service error out of the break,
and the Judges went on to the 25-19 win.
Endicott (8-2) got off to a fast
start in set two. Sophomore middle blocker Amy Grigg (Vernon,
Conn.) and rookie right-side player Elyse Barbour (Greenville,
R.I.) combined for three straight blocks in one five-point run that
staked the visitors to a 9-3 lead. The lead stayed between four and
six points until the late stages of the set. Brandeis trailed,
20-15, but ended the game on an 10-3 run. Wingenbach sparked the
run with a kill, with sophomore Paige Blasco
(Greeley, Colo.) adding three of her eight kills in the game.
Junior middle blocker Piera Carfagno (Los Angeles,
Calif.) ended the game with a service ace.
In the third set, Brandeis opened
with a 5-2 run that Endicott answered with three straight points to
tie it at 5-5. The Judges responded by scoring eight of the next
nine points to open up a 14-6 lead on a tip kill by sophomore
setter Abby Blasco (Greeley, Colo.). The lead
bulged to as many as 10 at 21-11 before the Judges hung on for the
25-19 win.
Brandeis was paced a pair
double-doubles Paige Blasco (match-high 14 kills and 10 digs) and
Wingenbach (10 kills and match-high 13 digs. Abby Blasco finished
with 37 assists, eight digs and two service aces. Carfagno led the
Judges with a .227 hitting percentage (8 K-3 A-22 TA).
Endicott was paced offensively by
Janelle, who had six kills. Defensively, Grigg had five block
assists, while junior Steph Wiese (Higganum, Conn.) and senior
libero Brittany Nolan (Monroe, Conn.) each totaled 12 digs.
Brandeis is next in action at
Tufts University next Tuesday at 7 p.m., while Endicott is at Salve
Regina University next Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a Commomwealth Coast
Conference match-up.
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SCORE