For Immediate Release
September 8, 2009
Wellesley Sports Information
Wellesley Volleyball Falls to Brandeis in Season Opener
WELLESLEY, Mass. – The Wellesley College volleyball team fell to visiting Brandeis University, 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 25-13), on Tuesday evening at the Keohane Sports Center. The Blue drop to 0-1 to start the season while the Judges improve to 5-1.
Suffering an early 3-0 deficit in game one, the Blue battled back to narrow the gap to 5-4. However, a 7-1 run by the Judges, paced by four Wellesley errors, put Brandeis ahead 12-5. Wellesley slowly inched back, knotting the set at 22-22 with an ace from Madeleine Brumley (Lafayette, LA). However, a service error opened the door for the Judges, who won the last three points and took the set, 25-22.
Brandeis maintained a four-point lead through most of the second set, backed by hot-hitting from Paige Blasco (Greely, CO). The Blue came back to tie the set, 15-15, off of a service ace from Vivien Hu (Bellaire, TX) and later opened an 18-16 lead, for their first advantage of the night's contest. Brandeis wasn't done, though, and took four straight points with Bridget McAllister (Santa Clara, CA) serving, regaining a 20-18 advantage. After sideouts from both teams, the Judges took advantage of three Wellesley errors, and won the second set, 25-21.
In the third, Wellesley trailed for most of the set, until three-straight errors from Brandeis, and Blue kills from Elizabeth Campbell (Solona Beach, CA) and Isabel Custodio (Powell, OH) put Wellesley in front 13-11. The Blue held the lead the rest of the way, with Campbell adding four more kills, as Wellesley got on the board with a 25-20 win.
Wellesley couldn't carry the momentum from the third set into the fourth, with Brandeis taking control early. The Blue regrouped and came back to tie the set at 9-9, but it was all Brandeis the rest of the way. The Judges' closed the set with a 16-4 run, taking the set 25-13 and winning the match, 3-1.
Brandeis was led by Paige Blasco who racked up 18 kills while hitting at a .267 clip. Piera Carfagno (Los Angeles, CA) paced the Judges with 11 kills and 17 digs, and Abby Blasco (Greely, CO) had 33 digs.
For Wellesley, Campbell picked up 14 kills for the Blue, while Alice Cummings (Tallahasee, FL) added 12 kills. Custodio picked up 25 assists while Naomi Iwata (Seattle, WA) added 19 digs for the Blue.
Wellesley is back in action this weekend, hosting a quad match with Amherst, Wesleyan and Johns Hopkins. The Blue will open play with a 6:00pm match vs. Amherst on Friday at 6:00pm. The Judges also return to the court this weekend, hosting the Brandeis Invitational. Matches begin on Friday with the hosts taking on Rhode Island College at 4:00pm.