WELLESLEY, Mass. (courtesy Wellesley sports info) -- Senior co-captain right side Piera Carfagno (Loss Angeles, Calif./Campbell Hall School) led the Brandeis volleyball team past Wellesley for the first time since 2006 with 11 kills and a team-high 17 digs as the Judges topped the Blue, 3-1. Set scores were 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 25-13.
Junior setter Abby Blasco (Greeley, Colo./Frontier Acad.) also had a double-double with 33 assists and 11 digs, while twin sister Paige recorded a match-high 18 kills with a .270 hitting percentage. Paige Blasco also added three blocks (two solo), while rookie middle blocker Becca Fischer (San Antonio, Texas/Clark) had five blocks (three solo).
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. 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 senior Bridget McAllister
(Santa Clara, Calif./Presentation) 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 improves to 5-1 on
the season, while the Blue fall to 0-1.