WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University volleyball team opened their second Invitational of the season in style with a three-set win against Westfield State University, wining 25-11, 25-21, 25-23. In their second match of the day, the Judges couldn't quite complete the reverse sweep over Bowdoin College, falling 17-25, 15-25, 25-16, 25-17, 14-16.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis, 6-4.
• Westfield State, 2-5.
• Bowdoin, 3-1.

HOW IT HAPPENED, WESTFIELD STATE (Set scores 25-11, 25-21, 25-23)

• The Judges rolled in the opening set of the evening, defeating Westfield State, 25-11. Brandeis outhit the visitors, .448 to .167, tallying 16 kills to just 6 for the Owls.
• Brandeis never trailed in the opening set and led by as many as 17 points before the 14-point final tally.
• Junior Anna Ertischek (Montgomery, Texas/Lake Creek) had six kills and no errors in 10 attempts in the first, while senior Lara Verstovsek (Houston, Texas/Episcopal) went 4 for 5 without an errors.
• First-year setter Alexa Ho (Queens, N.Y./Frances Lewis) had seven assists and three services aces to help the Brandeis cause.
• The second set was much closer, featuring eight ties and five lead changes. With the stanza tied at 6-all, WSU went on a 10-5 run, taking their largest lead at 16-11 after a kill by Mary Heneghan.
• Ertischek answered, kicking off a 6-0 run for the Judges to give them a 17-16 lead. The score stayed close, and the Owls took a 21-20 lead on a service ace by Allie Hill.
• Verstovsek and senior Tatiana Wainer (Miami, Fla./Schech Hillel Community) delivered a resounding block on the next point.
• The Judges closed the set on a 5-0 run, taking it 25-21 after three-straight Verstovsek kills, giving her five for the set and nine for the match
• Brandeis never trailed in the third set, though WSU made it close, tying the set at 8-all and then rallying to even things up at 21-21 after an Erica Majka service ace.
• The Judges stayed ahead, however, closing on a 4-2 string with a kill by junior Alina Nowakowski (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield).
• With a final set score of 25-23, all nine of the Brandeis matches this season have had at least one set decided by the minimum two points.
• Ertischek and Verstovsek tied for match-high honors with 13 and 12 kills each. They combined to hit .380 (25 K-6 E-50 TA) as the Judges hit .267 as a team.
• Wainer added four kills and a team-high six blocks, as Brandeis delivered nine blocks to just three for Westfield State.
• First-year Samantha Lin (Menlo Park, Calif./Menlo-Atherton) had 14 assists and Ho had 13, while rookie libero Isabella Irizarry (Guaynabo, P.R./Cupeyville School) had a match-high 13 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED, BOWDOIN (Set scores: 17-25, 15-25, 25-16, 25-17, 14-16)

• The Judges got off to a sluggish start, getting outhit .480 to .200 in the opening set as Bowdoin led wire-to-wire in a 25-17 win.
• In the second set, Brandeis had 11 kills to seven for the Polar Bears, but 13 attacking errors were too much to overcome in a 25-17 set.
• Brandeis turned things around in the third and fourth sets, putting together hitting percentages of .385 and .548, while holding the visitors below .200 in each set. The Judges pulled even with set wins of 25-16 and 25-17.
• It looked like Bowdoin may have turned the tables again early in the fifth, when they jumped out to a 4-0 lead and eventually went ahead by five at 7-2 and 9-4.
• The Judges crept back into the set as the Auerbach crowd started getting into the act. A Verstovsek kill tied the set at 11-all, and back-to-back kills by first-year Kennedy Lilly (Atlanta, Ga./Eagle's Landing Christian Academy) and Verstovsek gave Brandeis their first lead, 13-12.
• Bowdoin's Alison Smith responded, retying the match at 13-13, and Mary John set up the visitors' first match point.
• Verstovsek answered with an emphatic kill to force extra points, but a Smith kill gave Bowdoin a second match point, and the Judges' attack went long giving the Polar Bears the 16-14 win.
• The final set marked a 10^th-straight match for the Judges with one set decided by the minimum two points, while the Judges fell to 1-2 in five-setters this season and the Polar Bears improved to 2-0.
• Verstovsek recorded a match- and season-high 20 kills. It was her seventh career match with at least 20 kills. She had nine errors in 45 attempts for a .244 hitting percentage. She also had 13 digs, second most in the match, for her fifth double-double of the campaign and the 23^rd of her career.
• Ertischek added 15 kills with six errors in 29 attacks for a .310 hitting percentage. Lin had 25 assists and Ho had 20. Irizarry had a match-high 17 digs, with Verstovsek and sophomore Olivia Nirode (Keller, Texas/Keller) adding 11.
• Bowdoin's Skye LaMendola led the visitors with 14 kills and Smith had 13.
• Cameron Shelly dished 29 assists and was deadly with her serve, picking up nine aces. The Polar Bears had 13 aces as a team, compared to just three for Brandeis.
• John was in on four Polar Bear blocks, including two solos.

UP NEXT

• Brandeis will close out their Brandeis Invitational schedule tomorrow at 1 p.m. against Springfield College.