Brandeis Downs Maine Maritime, Alexa Ho Earns All-Tournament Honors at MIT

Brandeis Downs Maine Maritime, Alexa Ho Earns All-Tournament Honors at MIT

Bookmark and Share

Adam Levin '94

The Brandeis University volleyball team bounced back from a tough five-set loss to the University of Scranton to defeat Maine Maritime in four sets today at the MIT Invitational. The Judges were paced by junior Alexa Ho, who earned all-tournament honors for her performance.

TEAM RECORDS
  • Brandeis, 3-4.
  • Scranton, 4-2.
  • Maine Maritime, 1-4.
HOW IT HAPPENED vs SCRANTON (25-16, 14-25, 18-25, 26-24, 15-10)
  • The Judges opened strong with a 25-16 win in the first set. They took the lead for good at 10-9 on a service ace from first-year Camila Valenzuela (Winter Park, Fla. / Bishop Moore Catholic), followed by two kills from Ho and a Scranton error to put Brandeis up, 13-9.
  • Scranton bounced back in the next two sets, as the Royals never trailed in the second and trailed just twice early in the third, winning 25-18.
  • The fourth set saw five ties and three lead changes, with Brandeis taking an early 12-5 lead.
  • Scranton battled back to tie things up at 22-all and eventually got their first match point at 24-23.
  • Brandeis called timeout in response, and junior Madison Haft-Abromovitch (Stratford, Conn./Rye Country Day School) delivered a tying kill. Senior Ava Ferrigno (Boca Raton, Fla. / Boca Raton Community) followed with a service ace and first-year Emmory Casto (Castle Rock, Colo. / Rock Canyon) had a kill to keep the Judges alive, 26-24.
  • In the decisive fifth set, neither team was able to get any early traction, with the set tied at 7-7. Scranton followed with a 4-0 string to  put them ahead for good, clinching it,15-10.
HOW IT HAPPENED vs MAINE MARITIME (25-21, 29-27, 23-25, 25-10)
  • Against the Mariners, Brandeis went on a 6-2 run to snap a 19-all tie and open with a 25-21 win.
  • MMA took an early 3-0 lead in the second, but Brandeis eventually tied things up at 6-all.
  • The set would then feature 16 ties and seven lead changes, eventually becoming the Judges' longest of the young season, 29-27. The Judges faced a set point at 24-25, but first-year Kennedy Hilson (Decatur, Ga. / Decatur) made the kill to knot things at 25. Ho eventually made the set-winning kill.
  • Maine Maritime rallied nicely, taking the third set, 25-23, by winning eight points in a row after allowing the Judges to get within two points of the match at 23-17.
  • The Judges responded with a wire-to-wire win the fourth set, 25-10, their biggest set win of the season.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORES
  • Against Scranton, Hilson led Brandeis with 16 kills, while Haft-Abromovitch had 15.
  • Ho had a fine all-around match, with 34 assists, 10 digs, five kills without an error in 11 attempts, and three service aces.
  • Ferrigno paced the defense with 16 digs.
  • In the MMA match, it was Haft-Abromovitch and Hilson on top of the offense again with 17 and 13 kills, respectively.
  • Ho just missed another double-double with 23 assists and nine digs.
  • Valenzuela and senior Olivia Nirode (Keller, Texas/Keller) each had four service aces.
  • Ferrgino had a season-high 22 digs, her fifth career match over 20.
  • Ho earned her All-Tournament honor by tallying 72 assists, 31 digs, and five service aces across three matches.