Blue Volleyball Staves Off Brandeis Comeback in 3-2 Victory

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Wellesley College volleyball earned a hard-fought 3-2 (25-23, 25-22, 14-25, 19-25, 15-13) non-conference victory over visiting Brandeis University on Thursday evening at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse. 

With Wellesley (12-12 overall) leading the match 2-0, Brandeis (9-15 overall) rallied to take the next two sets. However, the Blue rallied in the final set to earn the 3-2 win. 

Sophomore libero Kaija Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) paced the Blue with a match-high 30 digs and three service aces. First year Kate Giang (Corte Madera, Calif.) finished in double figures for the fifth straight match, recording 19 kills for the Blue. First year setters Madeline Zornek (Orlando, Fla.) and Noelle Winn (San Francisco, Calif.) combined for 38 assists to lead the Wellesley attack.

Junior Lara Verstovsek (Bellaire, Texas) finished the match with 25 kills and 13 digs to lead Brandeis (9-15 overall). Sophomore Anna Ertischek (Montgomery, Texas) added 14 kills and senior Ella Pereira (Redondo Beach, Calif.) collected 28 digs. Sophomore Julia Liang (Sugar Land, Texas) dished out a match-high 44 assists and had 13 digs and two aces for the Judges.

Tied at 9-9 in the first set, the Judges made the first run with a six point stretch. Down 17-13, Wellesley turned the tides with eight straight points of its own, including a trio of aces and a kill from Kunze-Hoeg. Though Brandeis cut the deficit down to one at 24-23, a kill from first year Mary Beeler (Menlo Park, Calif.) clinched the first for the Blue.

Backed by a 6-0 run, Wellesley led 12-8 in the second, and later was up six at 20-14. A late 4-0 streak kept Brandeis within two points of its Blue counterpart, but a service error gave Wellesley a 25-22 set.

The third set was close throughout the first half, before the Judges launched a 6-0 campaign and won 11 of the final 12 points of a 25-14 set that featured 13 kills and a .345 hitting percentage for Brandeis.

The Judges added 17 more kills in the fourth set, this time with a .371 hitting percentage. Once again, multiple runs in the latter portion of the set allowed Brandeis to build a lead and tied the match at two sets apiece.

The teams traded points early in the fifth, with neither team up by more than two through 11-11, when Wellesley won a key pair of points. The Judges saved one match point to make it 14-13, but the Blue took advantage of a kill from Giang to close out the match.

The Blue host senior day at 1:00 PM on Saturday, November 4 against Mount Holyoke to finish the regular season. The Judges are also at home on Saturday, with a 2:00 PM match against Westfield State.