The Justice

Media Credit: David Sheppard-Brick Lorraine Wingenbach '09 reaches for the ball.

After having gone 2-0 on Friday, the first day of last weekend's two-day Brandeis Invitational, the volleyball team found itself in an 8-0 hole during the first set of a match against Trinity College last Saturday, threatening their hopes for a perfect weekend.

Yet behind the serving of All-American outside hitter Lorraine Wingenbach '09, the Judges reeled off seven consecutive points, rallying from an early deficit to win the set 25-22. Brandeis never looked back from there, silencing the Bantams in straight sets to gain its third out of four straight victories at last weekend's tournament.

The Judges improved their record to 7-1 with the weekend sweep, dropping just one set total in defeating Smith College, Williams College, Trinity College and Rhode Island College, respectively. The perfect weekend came after last Tuesday's 3-1 loss to Wellesley College, the Judges' only loss thus far this season.

"We did well [this weekend]," coach Michelle Kim said. "The points that we needed to step up, we stepped up; we stepped up in the Williams match, which was big for us, and that was the match that we played with a lot of intensity and a lot of heart."

Wingenbach attributed Trinity's early lead to "a good serve on their part" but credited the Judges' "team effort" and their experience.

"We've all been here before, and we've played teams like this in the past, and we know what we need to do to win," Wingenbach said.

The Bantams came out strong again in the second set, rolling to a 5-0 lead, but with setter Abby Blasco '11 serving four consecutive points, the Judges took their first lead of the set at 15-14. The teams remained close and were tied at 24, but, needing two consecutive points to win the set, the Judges got two straight kills by middle blocker Bridget McAllister '10 to win the set 26-24.

"We had talked to [McAllister] in the last timeout about turning her shot to the right back corner and she made that adjustment right away and was able to get those [winning] kills for us," Kim said.

Brandeis jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the third set and never looked back, winning the set 25-16 to clinch the match.

Continued...

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