CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Brandeis University volleyball team bounced back from a tough five-set loss to the University of Scranton to defeat Maine Maritime in four sets today at the MIT Invitational. The Judges were paced by junior
Alexa Ho (Staten Island, N.Y./Frances Lewis), who earned All-Tournament honors for her performance.
TEAM RECORDS
- Brandeis, 3-4.
- Scranton, 4-2.
- Maine Maritime, 1-4.
HOW IT HAPPENED vs SCRANTON (25-16, 14-25, 18-25, 26-24, 15-10)
- The Judges opened strong with a 25-16 win in the first set. They took the lead for good at 10-9 on a service ace from first-year Camila Valenzuela (Winter Park, Fla. / Bishop Moore Catholic), followed by two kills from Ho and a Scranton error to put Brandeis up, 13-9.
- Scranton bounced back in the next two sets, as the Royals never trailed in the second and trailed just twice early in the third, winning 25-18.
- The fourth set saw five ties and three lead changes, with Brandeis taking an early 12-5 lead.
- Scranton battled back to tie things up at 22-all and eventually got their first match point at 24-23.
- Brandeis called timeout in response, and junior Madison Haft-Abromovitch (Stratford, Conn./Rye Country Day School) delivered a tying kill. Senior Ava Ferrigno (Boca Raton, Fla. / Boca Raton Community) followed with a service ace and first-year Emmory Casto (Castle Rock, Colo. / Rock Canyon) had a kill to keep the Judges alive, 26-24.
- In the decisive fifth set, neither team was able to get any early traction, with the set tied at 7-7. Scranton followed with a 4-0 string to put them ahead for good, clinching it,15-10.
HOW IT HAPPENED vs MAINE MARITIME (25-21, 29-27, 23-25, 25-10)
- Against the Mariners, Brandeis went on a 6-2 run to snap a 19-all tie and open with a 25-21 win.
- MMA took an early 3-0 lead in the second, but Brandeis eventually tied things up at 6-all.
- The set would then feature 16 ties and seven lead changes, eventually becoming the Judges' longest of the young season, 29-27. The Judges faced a set point at 24-25, but first-year Kennedy Hilson (Decatur, Ga. / Decatur) made the kill to knot things at 25. Ho eventually made the set-winning kill.
- Maine Maritime rallied nicely, taking the third set, 25-23, by winning eight points in a row after allowing the Judges to get within two points of the match at 23-17.
- The Judges responded with a wire-to-wire win the fourth set, 25-10, their biggest set win of the season.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORES
- Against Scranton, Hilson led Brandeis with 16 kills, while Haft-Abromovitch had 15.
- Ho had a fine all-around match, with 34 assists, 10 digs, five kills without an error in 11 attempts, and three service aces.
- Ferrigno paced the defense with 16 digs.
- In the MMA match, it was Haft-Abromovitch and Hilson on top of the offense again with 17 and 13 kills, respectively.
- Ho just missed another double-double with 23 assists and nine digs.
- Valenzuela and senior Olivia Nirode (Keller, Texas/Keller) each had four service aces.
- Ferrgino had a season-high 22 digs, her fifth career match over 20.
- Ho earned her All-Tournament honor by tallying 72 assists, 31 digs, and five service aces across three matches.
UP NEXT
The Judges head to Rhode Island to take on Roger Williams on Wednesday at 6 PM.
