WALTHAM, MA – The University of Rochester volleyball team was faced with a tough task to open UAA Round Robin play, squaring off against the #12 and #2 ranked teams in Division III, and ultimately fell in both matches on Saturday afternoon at Brandeis University.
 
Rochester dropped its opener to #12 Carnegie Mellon by a 3-1 score (25-21, 13-25, 22-25, 16-25) and then was defeated 3-0 (12-25, 10-25, 8-25) by #2 Emory in its second game of the day.  Rochester moves to 7-8 on the season and is 0-2 in the conference.  The Yellowjackets finish off Round Robin #1 play on Sunday against host Brandeis.
 
In the CMU match, UR jumped out to the early lead, taking the opening set 25-21 behind a strong opening set hitting performance.  Rochester hit .290 in the first, with 13 kills to just four errors.  Unfortunately in set two, UR double its error total and could only muster seven kills, dropping the 25-13 decision to the Tartans.
 
Carnegie Mellon used the big second set win to seize momentum, eventually grabbing a 25-22 win in set three thanks to a .375 hitting performance.  In the fourth, CMU clinched the victory with a 25-16 triumph.
 
Rochester's Allie DeRubertis led UR with 13 kills, 11 digs and 4 aces, all being team highs.  Beth Ghyzel had 11 kills and 8 digs while Renae Lapins and Isabelle Miranda combined for 33 assists.
 
Tamera Shaw chipped in five kills while Kellie McCrea and Megan McHugh each had three.
 
Against Emory, the defending league champions showed their strength, striking the ball over .300 in each set, ending with a .408 percentage for the match.  Rochester meanwhile, was held to more errors than kills in the match.
 
Shaw led UR with five kills in the loss.  Sara Apanavicius had nine digs to lead the defense, while a trip of others, Ghyzel, Kiara Carrasqulla and Megan Hauer had three each.  Hauer added UR's only two service aces in the match.