WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University volleyball team dropped a pair of closely fought matches today against visiting Stevens Institute of Technology and Williams College on Day Two of the Brandeis Invitational, with five of the day's seven sets decided by five or fewer points.
TEAM RECORDS
- Brandeis, 2-2.
- Stevens, 1-1.
- Williams, 2-0.
HOW IT HAPPENED vs STEVENS (20-25, 20-25, 16-25)
- The first set saw Brandeis take a 12-10 lead before Stevens went on a 5-0 run to take the lead for good at 15-12.
- Brandeis would climb within a point on five different occasions, the latest at 21-20, but the Ducks scored the final four points to take it, 25-20.
- A similar situation arose in the second set, when the Judges held a 13-11 lead, only to see the visitors go on a 6-1 run to go up 17-14.
- The home team rallied to tie things up at 20-all on a Ducks error, but Stevens scored the last five points to win by the same score.
- Stevens never trailed in the third set, maintaining momentum by scoring nine of the first 10 points.
- The Judges got within three and were down just five at 15-10 when Stevens scored another six in a row to take control en route to the 25-16 clinch.
- First-year Kennedy Hilson (Decatur, Ga. / Decatur) led Brandeis with eight kills, a career-high, while junior Kennedy Lilly (Atlanta, Ga. / Eagle's Landing Christian Acad.) added five.
- First-year setter Camila Valenzuela (Winter Park, Fla. / Bishop Moore Catholic) had 15 assists, while senior Ava Ferrigno (Boca Raton, Fla. / Boca Raton Community) led the defense with 11 digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED vs WILLIAMS (25-21, 18-25, 20-25, 20-25)
- The Judges opened their second match strong. Trailing, 17-15, after an attack error, the Judges closed on a 10-4 string, including six of the last eight points.
- The Ephs committed three errors late in the match, while junior Madison Haft-Abromovitch (Stratford, Conn./Rye Country Day School) had a pair of kills.
- In the second set, after the teams traded the first four points, Williams went on a 4-0 run to take a 5-2 lead. The visitors never let Brandeis get closer than two points the rest of the way as they evened the match at 1-all.
- Williams jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the third and never trailed again, while in the fourth, they erased a 16-11 deficit with a 7-1 run.
- Brandeis still led late at 20-19, but the Ephs scored the last six points to secure the four-set win.
- Haft-Abromovitch tied for match-high honors with 12 kills, but no other Brandeis player had more than five. She also had four service aces, a career-high.
- Valenzuela and junior Alexa Ho (Queens, N.Y. / Francis Lewis) had nine assists each.
- Defensively, Valenzuela and Ferrigno each had 12 digs and Ho added 11.
UP NEXT
- Brandeis is back in action next Friday evening at MIT at 6 p.m. in the opener of the MIT Invitational.
