WALTHAM, Mass. – Brandeis University volleyball senior
Lara Verstovsek (Houston, Texas/Episcopal) delivered a career-high 26 kills tonight as the Judges outlasted the visiting Wentworth Institute of Technology Leopards in five sets, 25-21, 32-30, 26-28, 23-25, 15-10.
TEAM RECORDS
- Brandeis, 13-10.
- Wentworth, 14-9.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- In a two-hour and 26 minute match that saw three sets decided by two points, and two of those go into extra points beyond 25, there wasn't much separating the two teams.
- Brandeis had a 76-55 advantage in total kills, but the Judges also committed 40 attack errors to 27 for the Leopards.
- The home team also saw a 10-6 margin in service aces offset by 12 service errors to just six for WIT. Brandeis had nine blocks to five for the Leopards.
- Brandeis opened the match with a 25-21 win, closing on a 5-2 run after Wentworth closed to within 21-19 and 23-21.
- The second set marathon saw a remarkable 22 ties and 12 lead changes, with the largest lead by any team three points – 14-11 for Wentworth and 22-19 for Brandeis.
- Wentworth served for the set six times, the last at 30-29, but the Leopards committed an attacking error to knot things up at 30. Brandeis got kills from first-year Kennedy Lilly (Atlanta, Ga./Eagle's Nest Community School) and Verstovsek to earn the win. Verstovsek had five kills in the set, while Lilly had four.
- Wentworth battled back for a pair of two-point wins in the third and fourth sets (28-26, 25-23) to gain some momentum, and the Leopards scored the first two points of the fifth.
- The Judges responded with six-straight points on the serve of sophomore Olivia Nirode (Keller, Texas/Keller) to open up a 6-2 lead that they expanded to 9-3 before taking the largest set victory of the evening, 15-10.
- Verstovsek paced the way offensively for the Judges with a career-best 26 kills, one more than the 25 she had on two occasions last year. She also had a match-high 21 digs and contributed three block assists.
- It was the fourth time in five matches that Verstovsek reached the 20-kill plateau and the 11th time in her career overall.
- Verstovsek moved into fifth place on the Judges' career kills list with 1,258, surpassing Piera Carfagno '10. Next up on the career list is Liz Hood '15 with 1315.
- Junior Anna Ertischek (Montgomery, Texas/Lake Creek) added 15 kills and Lilly had 11.
- Junior Julia Liang (Sugar Land, Texas/Clements) had 33 assists and was particularly on point with her attacks, making six kills in eight attempts.
- Senior Tatiana Wainer (Miami, Fla./Schech Hillel Community) and first-year Madison Haft-Abromowich (Stratford, Conn./Rye Country Day School) each had five block assists.
UP NEXT
- The Judges will face #5 Emory and the University of Rochester on Sunday in the last two UAA matches of the regular season.
