FROSTBURG, Maryland – The Brandeis University volleyball team saw its season come to an end on Sunday, as it lost a hard-fought four-set match to the Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Devils in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III tournament semifinals.
The Judges narrowly lost the first set, 26-24, staving off an FDU-Florham set point once before the Devils were able to take the match lead. The second set was another close one, as Brandeis was able to withstand two separate late 3-0 runs from FDU-Florham before winning, 25-22. The Judges had their best attacking set of the match in the second, with 15 kills on 32 attempts, good for a .344 attack percentage.
The Devils took an early lead, 7-3. in the third set and never looked back, eventually running off a 5-0 run later on to make it 17-6. Brandeis did fight back, immediately answering with an 8-2 run of their own, but the deficit was just too large and FDU-Florham went took the 2-1 set lead with a 25-19 victory.
The fourth set started off promising for the Judges, as they went up 6-2 early. But the Devils would not quit, and went on a 6-0 run to grab the lead, 8-6. The rest of the set was fairly even, with the FDU-Florham lead fluctuating between two and four points until they were able to put the set and match away with a 25-22 set win.
Brandeis finished its season at 17-15, its first winning record since 2012, while FDU-Florham's record stood at 27-8 after this match.
FOR THE JUDGES
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Sophomore Emma Bartlett (Duxbury, Mass. / Duxbury) and junior Yvette Cho (San Diego, Calif. / Rancho Bernardo) were named to the All-Tournament Team.
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Bartlett had 35 kills for the tournament, good for an average of 2.92 per set. She also averaged over a block per set, with 13 in 12 sets.
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Cho had 90 digs for the tournament, giving her a 7.50 dig per set average and easily surpassing her overall season average of 5.34. She shined in the quarterfinals against Bethany (W. Va), when she had 48 digs in a five-set thriller.
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Bartlett stood out in this match, producing a match-high 19 kills (.371 attack percentage). She also had a match-high four blocks, one solo and three assists.
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Junior Zara Platt (Fountain Valley, Calif. / Fountain Valley) also reached double-digit kills, with 11.
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Both Brandeis setters produced double-doubles. Junior Marlee Nork (Chicago, Ill. / Walter Payton College Prep) had a team-high 30 assists and 16 digs, while freshman Marissa Borgert (Blaine, Minn. / Spring Lake Park) had 20 assists and 11 digs. Borgert also contributed in the other big three categories, with six kills, one service ace, and one block assist.
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Junior Shea Decker-Jacoby (Los Angeles, Calif. / Marymount) just missed a double-double, as she had nine kills and 17 digs.
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Five Judges had double-digit dig totals. Cho led with a match-high 29, followed by Decker-Jacoby's 17, Nork's 16, freshman Clare Meyers' (Richfield, Wisc. / Slinger) 14, and Borgert's 11. Junior Grace Krumpack (Cincinnati, Ohio / Colerain) had eight digs.
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Brandeis hit .176 for the match (55K-21E-193TA).
FOR THE DEVILS
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Melissa Gaffney and Lauren Harris were named to the All-Tournament Team.
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Both Harris and Gaffney had double-doubles in kills and digs; Harris had a team-high 17 kills and 13 digs while Gaffney had 11 kills and 20 digs. Harris also had a match-high three service aces.
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Courtney Conte also had a double-double, with a match-high 43 assists and 22 digs.
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Rachel Catena led her team with 24 digs. Amelia Vetto also added 18 digs of her own.
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Marissa Lehnert had a productive day at the net, with 13 kills on 28 attempts (.250 attack percentage).
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FDU-Florham hit .139 for the match (54K-26E-202TA).
LATER IN THE DAY
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FDU-Florham went on to play the Westminster (Penn.) College Titans in the finals, losing 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-13). It was the second ECAC title for the Titans, having won the Division II crown in 2001.
UP NEXT
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The Judges' 2017 season comes to a close with a winning record and its first postseason berth and victory since 2012.
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Brandeis had no seniors on the roster, and so should return a similar team for the 2018 season.
--Corey Cohen
