WALTHAM, Mass. – In a tight match in which no team had a lead larger than four and saw the first three sets all decided by two points, the Brandeis University volleyball team outlasted their local rivals from Lasell University, 3-2, in Red Auerbach Arena. Set scores were 26-24, 25-23, 25-27, 21-25, 15-11.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis, 6-10.
• Lasell, 11-2.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• In the first three sets, neither team was able to pull away, as they featured 50 tie scores and 27 lead changes. The match had 62 ties and 32 lead changes in total.
• After the Judges edged the Lasers, 26-24 and 25-23 in the first two sets, they had two chances to sweep the match, serving at 24-23 and 25-24 in the third. Lasell responded each time to keep the match alive as they took the stanza, 27-25.
• Brandeis led, 13-10, midway through the fourth, but they couldn't pull away. The Lasers came back to tie things up at 15-all, but the home team took another two-point edge at 18-16. Lasell closed the set on a 9-3 run, and the visitors forced the fifth set with a 25-21 win.
• In the fifth, the teams traded points until 6-6 when the Judges went on a decisive run. Lasell gave the serve to Brandeis on a service error, and Judge sophomores Kay Menendez (Madrid, Spain/ American School of Madrid) and Alexa Ho (Queens, N.Y./Francis Lewis) delivered back-to-back blocks, one from each side of the net, and the visitors called timeout down 9-6.
• Brandeis senior Anna Ertischek (Montgomery, Texas/Lake Creek) delivered a kill on the next point to make it 10-6, and the Judges kept their opponents at bay the rest of the way for the 15-11 victory that was capped by a Menendez kill.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Ertischek led all players with 24 kills, one shy of her career-best. She had nine errors in 63 attacks for a .238 hitting percentage. She also had 11 digs for a double-double, her fourth of the season.
• Four of her kills came in the decisive fifth set, when she did not make any errors in her 10 attacks.
• Menendez added career-bests with seven kills and five blocks, a team-high, while first-year Colette Ejang (Los Angeles, Calif./Taft Charter School) also had seven kills and added two blocks.
• Ho notched a career-high with 44 assists and had 11 digs to join the double-double club.
• First-year Lara Demoraes (Plantation, Fla./Cypress Bay) had a team-high 18 digs, while sophomore Isabella Irizarry (Guaynabo, P.R./Cupeyville School) had 13.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The Judges evened their record in five-set matches this season at 2-2.
• Brandeis improved to 12-1 all-time against the Lasers, after Lasell won their first match in the series last season.
• Lasell fell to 2-1 in five-setters and saw their three-match winning streak snapped as they suffered just their second loss of the season.

UP NEXT

• The Judges travel south to Hartford, Conn., tomorrow to meet Trinity College.