Volleyball takes two to open season on West Coast

LA VERNE and CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Brandeis University volleyball team traveled to the West Coast to open their season at the 2018 Pacific Coast Classic. The Judges started off on the right foot, defeating Union College, 3-1, and Mount Aloysius College, 3-0, in two different venues.

BRANDEIS 3, UNION 1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-20, 25-23) – at La Verne, California (University of La Verne)

• The Judges and Dutch split the first two sets, but Brandeis was able to hold of Union in the third and fourth to pick up their first win of the season.
• Brandeis hit .167 or better in the three sets they won, including over .200 in the final two sets. In the set won by Union, the Dutch outhit Brandeis, .343 to .031.
• Brandeis had a terrific team performance, with four players registering double figures in digs, and two of those recording double-doubles.
• Senior setter Marlee Nork (Chicago, Ill./ Walter Payton College Prep) finished with 42 assists and 11 digs. She was two assists shy of her career best, reaching 40 in a match for the fourth time in her career.
• Sophomore outside hitter Clare Meyers (Richfield, Wisc. / Slinger) led the team in both kills, with 12, and digs, with 16.
• Defensive specialists Yvette Cho (San Diego, Calif. / Rancho Bernardo), a senior, and Kaitlyn Oh (Santa Clara, Calif. / Cupertino), a rookie, had 14 and 13 digs, respectively.
• Senior outside hitter Shea Decker-Jacoby (Los Angeles, Calif./Marymount), playing in her hometown of Los Angeles, had nine kills, as did sophomore middle hitter Emma Bartlett (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury). Bartlett also had four blocks (three solo).
• After the match, head coach Alesia Vaccari said, "That was a real team effort. We had to fight for every point."

BRANDEIS 3, MOUNT ALOYSIUS 0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-19) – at Claremont, Calif. (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps)

• The Judges picked up their first sweep of the season against the Chargers of Mount Aloysius out of Western Pennsylvania.
• After winning the first two sets without trailing, Brandeis came from 16-14 down to finish the match on an 11-3 run to complete the sweep.
• The Judges held MAC to a .100 hitting percentage for the match (29 K-20 E-90 TA) while hitting at a .185 clip of their own (38 K-18 E-108 TA).
• Cho added 11 more digs, bring her career total to 1,504. She is the fourth player in Brandeis history to eclipse the 1,500-dig plateau.
• Offensively, rookie outside hitter Stephanie Borr (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) led all players with nine kills for the match, while senior Kirsten Frauens (Webster, N.Y. / Webster Schroeder) added seven and Decker-Jacoby had six.
• Rookie middle hitter Kaisa Newberg (Reno, Nev. / Sage Ridge School) had five kills and led the team with five blocks (two solo).
• "That match really depicted how hard we have worked during the preseason," said Vaccari. "The level of competition we've shown has been the best it's ever been at practice since I've been at Brandeis, and it's translated to the court."

UP NEXT

• The Judges play two more matches tomorrow, against a pair of West Coast foes. They will meet the host team and defending national champions, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 9:30 a.m. local time, 12:30 p.m. on the East Coast, followed by a match with the University of Redlands at 2:15 p.m. Pacific/5:15 Eastern.