University of Rochester women's volleyball opened the 2024 UAA Volleyball Championship, hosted by the Yellowjackets inside the Louis Alexander Palestra and Goergen Athletic Center, against the No. 1-seeded Emory University Eagles, falling in a tightly-contested three-set match, 3-0, before dropping their consolation-bracket match to the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans, 3-0.
 
With the two losses, Rochester drops to 14-18 on the year and will face 7th-seeded Brandeis University in the seventh-place match on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 10 a.m. on Zornow Court A, while the Tartans move to 18-11 and will take on 6th-seeded NYU in the fifth-place match, and No. 1-seeded Emory, now 25-2 on the year, will square off with third-seeded WashU in the UAA Championship.
 
Match One: #6 Emory 3, Rochester 0
Sophia Luo gave the Eagles the first points of the opening set with a kill before some back-and-forth play saw UR and Emory stand tied at five-all after a service error by the Yellowjackets. Emory then jumped ahead with four-straight on Kate LaRocco's serve, and while UR called a timeout, the Eagles kept the run coming, forcing another timeout with six-straight points after Alexia Nelms notched the first point out of the timeout with a kill.
 
Down 15-7 out of the timeout, the 'Jackets slowly made their way back, with Ashley Cook's kill and Nelms' service ace pulling UR within six, before three-straight, including two kills from Caroline Hoag, cut the deficit to just four and forced Emory to spend a timeout.
 
UR would come as close as three, 18-15, out of the timeout after kills from Rylee Bergeron and Myla Nover-Estes, before another Emory run, this time four-in-a-row and six of the final eight points of the set, gave the Eagles the opening set, 25-18, and a 1-0 match lead.
 
And while the Eagles again surged ahead early, scoring the first three points of the second set on three-straight UR attack errors, the 'Jackets battled back to knot the score at 7-7 on kills from Nover-Estes and Ruby Moore, as well as an Emory attack error.
 
Four-straight points from the Eagles allowed Emory to retake the lead, while Madison Call's kill and an attack error made it a 13-8 advantage for the No. 1 seed. However, Rochester again made their way back, with a block from Cook and Hoag highlighting a 4-0 run to level the set at 13-all and force Emory to use a timeout.
 
The Eagles notched the first two points out of the timeout and looked to take a commanding 19-15 lead on LaRocco's kill, but the Yellowjackets kept on pushing, closing the gap to three out of a timeout and keep things close down the stretch.
 
Alana Dawson's kill made it a 23-18 Emory lead before Moore answered with a kill of her own, but kills from Madison Cail and LaRocco finished off the set for the Eagles, as the visitors took it by the final score of 25-19.
 
Emory then opened up the third set with seven-straight points, but the Yellowjackets answered with a run of their own, as two more Hoag kills pulled UR with three, 7-4. The 'Jackets kept things close and continued to claw their way back, cutting the deficit to just two with a block from Nover-Estes and Moore, while kills from Hoag and Cook made it a 14-12 Emory lead.
 
Emory called a timeout and then inched ahead with three of the next four, taking an 18-15 lead on Sophie Zerrouki's kill, but the 'Jackets would battle back to even the score at 18-all with the next three points.
 
Kills from Moore and Bergeron made it 18-all, but the Eagles answered back out of a timeout with a service error and ace, pulling back ahead by two.
 
Another Bergeron kill made it a one-point game, before three points later, Cook's kill again knotted the set, this time at 21-all. After two straight from the Eagles, UR called a timeout and quickly tied it on back-to-back Cook kills.
 
However, kills by LaRocco and Luo finished the set off for the Eagles, giving Emory the match, 3-0.
 
Bergeron and Cook each led UR with 10 kills, while Bergeron and Weeks each tallied a team-high 14 digs. Nelms notched a team-high 36 assists, while Hoag and Nover-Estes each had a pair of blocks.
 
Match Two: Carnegie Mellon 3, Rochester 0
The Yellowjackets kept things close against the Tartans early on in the opening set, briefly taking a 7-6 lead over Carnegie Mellon after Bergeron's service ace evened the set at six-all and an attack error made it a one-point UR lead.
 
However, Carnegie Mellon re-took the lead with four-straight points, and extended their lead out to five, 16-11, before Rochester took a timeout. Two more points out of the timeout made it an 18-11 CMU advantage, and while a service error briefly slowed the Tartans' run, kills from Bella Woodard and Julianna McFarland made it an eight-point, 20-12 advantage.
 
CMU led by as many as eight down the stretch before McFarland's kill brought up set point, 24-17, and while a service error gave UR the serve, Carnegie Mellon won it back, winning the set, 25-18, on Kai Herchenroether's kill.
 
The Tartans then kept things rolling in the second, scoring the first four points of the set and racing out to a 12-2 lead, forcing the Yellowjackets to spend both of their timeouts in the early going. Carnegie Mellon extended its lead to as large as 12 in the second set before Rochester's offense got going with Hoags' kill and a block from Hoag and Nover-Estes to make it a 10-point lead, however, the deficit would prove to be too much to overcome.
 
Up 22-12, Carnegie Mellon would notch the final three points off the set to take a 2-0 match lead with a 25-12 set-two victory.
 
Carnegie Mellon got set three started much like the second, scoring the first four points of the set and opening an early lead on Neha Tummala's serve. Bergeron gave UR its first points of the set, while a kill from Raquel Morales cut CMU's lead to 6-2.
 
The Tartans, however, brought their lead back out to six with two of the next three points, and then made it a seven-point lead with three of the next five. Rochester kept things close with kills from Cook and Moore, but CMU would pull away, opening an eight-point lead on a UR attack error, stretching it to nine, 21-13, on McFarland's block.
 
Down 21-13, Rochester scored the next two and matched CMU over the next two points, before two errors gave the Tartans the set, 25-17, and the match 3-0,
 
Bergeron and Cook again led UR with seven kills apiece, while Nelms added 19 assists. Defensively, Weeks had a team-high 11 digs, while Hoag and Nover-Estes each tallied a block.
 
The Yellowjackets will wrap up their 2024 campaign against No. 7-seeded Brandeis in the UAA Championship seventh-place match on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 10:00 a.m. on Zornow Court C.