CLEVELAND, OH – University of Rochester women's volleyball dropped a pair of matches to open conference play on Saturday on day one of the University Athletic Association's (UAA) Round Robin #1, hosted by Case Western Reserve inside the Veale Center. The Yellowjackets dropped their first match of the day in straight sets against Carnegie Mellon, before taking a set against 9th-ranked Emory but falling, 3-1.
 
UR falls to 9-3 (0-2 UAA) with the two losses, while #9 Emory remains undefeated at 9-0 (2-0 UAA) and Carnegie Mellon moves to 11-3 (2-0 UAA), having also swept their second match against Chicago.
 
MATCH ONE: Carnegie Mellon 3, Rochester 0
Myla Nover-Estes got the match started with a kill, but the Tartans would quickly jump out to an early lead on UR. Laura Reichard's kill evened the score at 3-3 for Carnegie Mellon, and the Tartans would score the next to go up 5-3.
 
The Yellowjackets would pull back within one on Sonia McGaffigan's service ace, following back-to-back kills from Ruby Moore and McGaffigan, but the Tartans answered with a big run, opening up a 15-8 lead on Julie Wu and Mindee Lai's serve and forced Rochester to take a timeout.
 
Carnegie Mellon though, would score five out of the next six points out of the timeout, going up 20-9 on the Yellowjackets. The Tartans hit .400 in the opening set, smashing 14 kills to UR's eight, with Elizabeth Schlemmer's kill finishing off a 25-13 set-one victory.
 
The Tartans would continue their hot hitting in the second set, hitting .391 on 23 attacks vs. .111 for the Yellowjackets. After some early back-and-forth play, the Tartans again opened up a lead with a run, this time outscoring UR, 5-2 over seven serves midway through the set to extend their 13-9 lead to 18-11.
 
Rochester would close the gap to just six with a run of their own, highlighted by two aces from McKenzie McDonald, but Reichard finished off the set for the Tartans with another ace, putting Carnegie Mellon up 2-0 with a 25-17 set-two victory.
 
Carnegie Mellon would then finish off the match with a 25-16 win in set three, pulling ahead early on Abby Chen's serve and leading by as many as 10 in the set.
 
Nover-Estes would pull UR within five, 14-9, with a kill following Zoe Gavros' service error, but the Tartans went back up by six with the next two points.
 
Down nine, Moore smashed a kill to win the serve back, but a service error put Carnegie Mellon within striking distance of match point before Julianna McFarland finished off the set with another CMU kill to put the Tartans on top, 25-16, and 3-0 for the match.
 
Moore led the 'Jackets with seven kills and eight digs, while Nover-Estes tallied six kills and seven digs. McGaffigan added five kills and a team-high two aces, while Alexia Nelms led UR with 15 assists.
 
MATCH TWO: #9 Emory 3, Rochester 1
Sarah Luong got the Eagles started with a service ace, and while Emory would score the first three points of the first set, UR answered with two of their own and kept things close for much of the early going.
 
Emory started to pull away with a bit of a run up 8-6, scoring four of the next five points to go up 11-7, but the Yellowjackets battled back to even the score at 12-all, and again at 13-all on a block by Cook and McGaffigan.
 
UR then took its first lead of the opening set on an attack error by Carly Wallace, but the Eagles won the serve right back with a service error and retook the lead, scoring the next four to go up 18-14 and force Ladi Iya to call a timeout.
 
But while McGaffigan smashed a kill out of the timeout to pull UR back within three, the Eagles didn't let Rochester get any close, countering each 'Jacket point with one of their own before Alana Dawson's kill gave Emory a 25-21 set-one victory.
 
Early on, the second set would again prove to be competitive like the first, before a 6-1 run from the Eagles put Emory up five. The 9th-ranked Eagles would stretch their lead out to six, 12-6 on a UR attack error, but on Cook's kill and Meyer's attack error, the Yellowjackets pulled back within three, 16-13.
 
Down 21-15, McGaffigan helped UR rally with a kill followed by an ace, while Nover-Estes notched back-to-back kills to again pull Rochester back within five, 24-19, and hold off set point.
 
However, the Eagles proved to be too much for UR in the second set, with Lily Martin notching Emory's 25th point with a kill, giving the set to Emory, 25-19.
 
Looking to finish off the sweep, Dawson scored the first points of the third set for Emory, but a service error quickly tied things up and UR and Emory went back-and-forth in the early going. The two sides stood tied at 3-3, 4-4, 8-8 and 9-9 before Bri Jones' kill gave the Yellowjackets a 10-9 lead.
 
Martin answered with a kill to knot the score at 10-all, before the 'Jackets and Eagles again traded points, and stood tied at 11-11 and again at 12-12 and 13-13.
 
The third set featured an astounding 19 ties as the Yellowjackets looked to prevent a sweep and force a fourth set against the 9th-ranked Eagles.
 
Down 18-16 Rochester called a timeout, and quickly tied things up off two Emory errors, taking a 19-18 lead on McDonald's ace. But the Eagles would come right back and even the score at 21-all, before UR would go up 24-22 on McGaffigan's kill and Jessica Majka's error, bringing up set point.
 
But 25 points would not be enough to decide a winner as the Eagles tied things up at 24 and 25-all, before taking a 26-25 lead and forcing UR to spend its last timeout. Again though, UR rallied, with Nover-Estes evening the score at 26-26, and after three more ties at 27, 28 and 29, McGaffigan's kill made it 30-29 UR, before a set error by the Eagles gave UR the win, 31-29.
 
The Yellowjackets then looked to force a fifth set, leading 5-3 early on in the fourth after McGaffigan and Moore again went back-to-back, but the Eagles would break an 11-11 tie with three straight points to take a lead they'd never relinquish.
 
Moore's kill brought UR back within one, but the Eagles brought the lead back out to three with kills from Dawson and Madison Cail. Then up 20-17, Emory scored another three straight, and while UR held off set point with two Eagles' errors, Wallace again came up big for #9 Emory, smashing a kill to finish the set, 25-21, and the match, 3-1.
 
Nover-Estes led Rochester with an all-around performance, tallying a game-high 14 kills to go along with two aces and eight digs. McGaffigan joined Nover-Estes in double figures with 14 kills, adding two aces and a block, while Nelms tallied 39 assists, adding two aces.
 
Defensively, Cook led UR with 15 digs, while Lydia Weeks added 13 and five assists.
 
The Yellowjackets will wrap up their three games at UAA Round Robin #1 with a matchup against UChicago on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 10:00 a.m. on Veale Court A.