ST. LOUIS, MO – The University of Rochester women's volleyball team opened University Athletic Association (UAA) play at the first of three UAA Round Robins on Saturday at WU Field House, falling in their first two games to the University of Chicago, 3-0, and 4th-ranked Emory University, 3-0.
 
The Yellowjackets drop to 6-4 (0-2 UAA) following their first day of Round Robin #1, while No. 4 Emory moves to 7-2 (2-0 UAA) and Chicago to 7-5 (2-0 UAA).
 
MATCH ONE: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 3, ROCHESTER 0
The Yellowjackets scored the first points of the match on a service error, but after a back-and-forth start, the Maroons used a 5-0 run to press out to an 11-7 lead.
 
Rochester would hold serve over the next few points, until another run brought UChicago's lead out to eight, 19-11, and forced the Yellowjackets to take a timeout.
 
Chicago would continue their run though, extending their lead to 10 on back-to-back service aces by Maddie Ryan, before finishing off the first set, 25-14, with another ace, this time from Hillary Cheung to take a 1-0 match lead.
 
UR kept things close to open the second set, with kills in the early going from Gillian Reeder and Ana Cerezer to even the set at nine-all.
 
The two sides stood tied nine times in the second set until a kill by Maggie McInerney broke a 15-15 tie, giving Chicago a 16-15 lead. The Maroons then added another on Emma Lotts kill to make it 17-15, but Reeder answered with a kill of her own to pull UR back within a point.
 
However, with a service error and two attack errors, UChicago extended their lead out to four, 20-16, to force a Rochester timeout, and then kept things rolling out of the timeout to go up five, 22-17.
 
The Yellowjackets battled back to within two, forcing the Maroons to use their first timeout of the match, but Chicago scored the last three points of the set to finish off a 25-20 set-two win, and go up, two sets to none.
 
Chicago then kept things rolling into the third set, taking an early 4-0 lead on Maya Patel's serve, and never trailing as they finished off the third set with a 25-15 victory to sweep the match, 3-0.
 
Reeder led UR with seven kills, while Cerezer and Nelms tallied a team-high 10 digs and 20 assists, respectively.
 
MATCH TWO: #4 EMORY 3, ROCHESTER 0
The Yellowjackets kept things close in the early going against the 4th-ranked Eagles until a 5-1 run with Emory up 7-5 gave the Eagles a six-point, 12-6 lead.
 
Reeder ended the run with a block, and Areti Tsirikaki followed with a kill, but three of the next four from the Eagles brought Emory's lead back out to six, 15-9.
 
However, with a 5-0 run of their own, the Yellowjackets pulled within one on Ruby Moore's service ace, one of two for the freshman over the five-point span.
 
But Emory responded with another run, this time scoring six of the next seven, and then weathered three quick points from Rochester to finish off a 25-19 set-one win.
 
The Eagles then came out with a fury in set two, opening the set with three straight points, and scoring 10 of the first 15 to open up a 10-5 lead.
 
Sonia McGaffigan's kill and an attack error pulled UR within three, but five-in-a-row from Emory made it an eight-point game.
 
The Yellowjackets though would nearly come back, pulling within two, 20-18, on back-to-back service aces by Katie Westerheim to force an Emory timeout, but out of the timeout, Emory finished off the set with five of the next six points to take home another 25-19 set victory.
 
Emory again took the early lead in set three, pulling ahead with a 5-0 run up 5-3. The Yellowjackets would get as close as three on Nelms service ace, but the Eagles scored the next seven straight to solidify their lead and eventually finished off a 25-15 set-three win to take home a 3-0 match victory.
 
McGaffigan led UR with seven kills, while Cerezer tallied nine digs. Nelms added a team-high 18 assists, while the 'Jackets combined with 11 blocks, including eight block assists.
 
The Yellowjackets wrap up the round robin on Sunday, Sept. 18 against Case Western Reserve at 10 a.m. CST.