Volleyball Down Brandeis at Brandeis Invitational

WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Wellesley College volleyball team opened play at the 2013 Brandeis Invitational with a 3-1 victory over the host Judges. The Blue earned the victory with set scores of 25-22, 24-26, 25-17, and 25-16, moving to 3-0 on the season. The loss dips Brandeis to 3-2 this year.

In a back-and-forth first set, it was Wellesley that grabbed an advantage, taking over a 10-10 match. The Blue gained a 19-12 lead using two Sydney Carfagno kills, a Caitlin Laughlin kill and several Brandeis attack errors. Wellesley stretched the lead to 21-15, before Brandeis cut the lead to 22-21 on four straight Blue errors. The visitors grabbed control of the match for good with Traci Hamanaka on the line, as an ace, and then a kill from Alixandra Binney sealed the 25-22 win.

Set two was another tight one, with neither team holding more than a three-point advantage, until a ERachael Dye kill put the Judges up 19-15. Wellesley battled back to tie the set at 24-24 on a Caitlin Laughlin ace, but a Liz Hood kill and a Tael Einhorn ace handed the set to Brandeis, 26-24.

In the third set, Wellesley and Brandeis stayed close, with the score at 11-9 midway through action. From that point on, Wellesley took over, as kills from Laughlin and long serving runs from Maddie Koh and Hamanaka, allowed the Blue to nab the 25-17 set victory, putting Wellesley up 2-1.

The Blue sealed the match victory with a strong performance in the fourth set that saw the team go ahead early and never look back. The Blue led by six early on (10-4) as Koh served for five straight points. Brandeis got as close at 18-12, but Wellesley's Carfagno recorded four kills down the stretch, and the Blue wrapped up the set and match on a Kira Jordan kill.

Leading the way for the Blue, Carfagno notched her third double-double in as many matches, recording 17 kills (with only two errors), while adding 15 digs. Laughlin was also hot, racking up 11 kills with a .474 hitting percentage and three aces. Rounding out the offense for the Blue, Jordan recorded seven kills with only one error, while Koh (20) and Hilary Ayers (18) combined for 38 assists.

Defensively, Sierra Weingartner and Laughlin recorded two blocks each to lead the Blue at the net. Hamanaka rounded out her line by tying a team-high with 15 digs and also picking up three aces.

Brandeis was led by hot-hitting from Liz Hood, who racked up 20 kills and three aces. Si-Si Hensley bolstered the offense with eight kills, while Dye added six. Einhorn handled setting duties, dishing out 33 total assists, while Elsie Bernaiche had a team-high of 15 digs.

Wellesley returns to action tomorrow at the Brandeis Invitational, taking on Rhode Island College at 12:00pm and Tufts University at 2:00pm.