NEW YORK, NY – University of Rochester women's volleyball dropped a pair of closely-contested matches to open University Athletic Association (UAA) play on Saturday at the UAA's opening round robin, hosted by NYU, at the John A. Paulson Center. Rochester took the opening set but fell to the 21st-ranked Case Western Reserve University Spartans, 3-1, before falling in three sets to the 7th-ranked Emory University Eagles.
 
With the two losses, Rochester drops to 7-9 (0-2 UAA) on the year, while No. 21 CWRU and No. 7 Emory now sit at 15-1 (2-0 UAA) and 13-1 (2-0 UAA), respectively.
 
MATCH ONE: No. 21 Case Western Reserve 3, Rochester 1
The Yellowjackets and Spartans traded barbs for much of the early going, with CWRU scoring the first two points of the match, and Rochester responding with the next two. After the Spartans notched four-straight points to take a 10-5 lead on Amanda Ngo's kill, UR called a timeout and regrouped, scoring the next four points to make it a one-point game, 10-9, on back-to-back kills from Ashley Cook.
 
Chloe Maciejewski's kill slowed UR's run, but only for a point, as the 'Jackets added the next three points to take a 12-11 lead midway through the opening set. The next few points saw ties at 12-12, 13-13, 14-14 and again at 15-all before Rochester scored three points in quick succession, with two straight Myla Nover-Estes kills forcing the Spartans to take a timeout, down 17-15.
 
And while the Spartans kept things close out of the timeout, notching two of the next three points, the 'Jackets got on a roll with five-straight points, four of which came on Rylee Bergeron's serve. The junior served up two aces, while Cook smashed a kill to give UR a 23-17 advantage.
 
Two points later, Bergeron notched a kill herself to bring up set point, and Caroline Hoag added another kill to give UR the set, 25-19, and a 1-0 match lead.
 
Case Western Reserve looked to answer in set two, building an early lead with a 5-1 run to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 10-7 lead on three-straight UR errors, but the Yellowjackets kept things close and jumped ahead by one on a 4-0 run, highlighted by kills from Bergeron, Cook and Hoag.
 
The Yellowjackets led by as many as three, 18-15, in the second set, as they looked to take a 2-0 lead, but CWRU battled back to level the match at 18-all, again taking advantage of several errors, and then went up 22-20 on Emily Goodpaster's service ace.
 
Rochester took a timeout and came right back to tie things up at 22, but the Spartans scored the last three points of the set to take it, 25-22, and level the match at one set apiece.
 
The Spartans then pushed out to an early 7-1 advantage in set three, holding UR to its worst hitting percentage of any set during the match. Case Western Reserve would use another 7-1 to build its lead to 10, 16-6, and while Rochester battled back to cut the deficit in half, the 10-point lead proved to be too much to overcome.
 
Case Western Reserve outhit the Yellowjackets, .250 to -.028 in the third, stretching their lead back out to eight, before another Ngo kill gave the Spartans the set, 25-16, and a 2-1 match lead.
 
The fourth set would prove to be much tighter, as UR looked to tie things up and force a decisive fifth set. Despite an early Spartan lead, Rochester made their way back on Ruby Moore's serve, tying the set at 10-all on Nover-Estes' kill from Alexia Nelms.
 
And after ties at 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, Rochester scored five-straight points to take a 20-16 advantage, but the Spartans responded with a run of their own, outscoring UR, 7-1 over the next eight points to turn a four-point deficit into a two-point lead and force Ladi Iya to spend a timeout.
 
UR scored the next point, but that'd be their last point of the match, as kills from Rea Marfatia and Kiya Levy finished off the set, 25-22, and the match for the 21st-ranked Spartans, giving CWRU a 3-1 victory.
 
Cook tallied a game-high 15 kills, while Bergeron added 13. Cook also notched a double-double, totaling 12 digs to go along with her 15 kills, while Lydia Weeks led the 'Jackets defensive with 18 digs.
 
Nelms turned in another near 50-assist performance with 46 over the four sets, adding four service aces, while Hoag and Bergeron each notched two block assists.
 
MATCH TWO: No. 7 Emory 3, Rochester 0
Facing their second Top-25 foe of the day, Rochester kept things close in the early going, leading 9-8 following Nelms' kill from Katie Westerheim before Emory turned in a huge run to surge ahead. Down 9-8, the Eagles turned a one-point deficit into an eight-point lead, outscoring UR, 9-1 over the next 10 serves to go up 18-10.
 
But the Yellowjackets wouldn't go down without a fight, as Rochester answered with the next three points, including kills from Nover-Estes and Moore, and then scored five-in-a-row to make it a two-point contest, 20-18 and force the Eagles to take a timeout.
 
Down the stretch of the opening set, Rochester leveled the match at 21-all on back-to-back kills from Moore and Nelms, and again at 22-22 on Cook's kill. Emory scored the next two points to bring up set point, and while another Cook kill held off set point once, Sophia Luo notched one of her nine kills on the day to give Emory the set, 25-22.
 
Set two would prove to be just as tight as the first, with the sides needing more than 25 points to declare a winner. Rochester led things early, opening up a 10-3 advantage on Nover-Estes' kill, one of two and a block the sophomore notched over the first 13 points of the second set.
 
However, the Eagles came back, tying the match at 14 before taking the lead with four-straight points down 16-14. The two sides traded points until UR again jumped ahead, using a service error and back-to-back Cook kills to take a 23-21 lead.
 
An error then gave Rochester a set point, but the Eagles called a timeout and answered with the next four points, taking the set, 26-24, and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Despite being down 2-0, Rochester again kept things close throughout the third set, with 11 ties before kills from Bergeron and Moore gave UR a 16-14 lead. Emory answered to go up one, but the 'Jackets came right back with two to take an 18-17 lead, before the two sides again stood tied, this time at 18-all, after Kaya Monrose's kill.
 
A service error and ace gave UR a two-point advantage, but again, Emory came right back to level the score at 20-all. The two sides saw another tie at 21-21 before the Eagles took the lead for good, forcing Rochester to take a timeout down 22-21.
 
Kate LaRocco's kill then made it a 23-21 Emory lead, but a service error pulled Rochester back within one. However, the Eagles once again finished off the match, this time scoring the final two points to take the set, 25-22, and match, 3-0, on Jessica Majka and Sophia Zerrouki's block.
 
Cook and Bergeron again led the way for Rochester, each tallying eight kills and nine digs, with Weeks also tallying a team-high nine digs. Nelms had 25 assists to lead UR, while Moore and McKenzie McDonald each pitched in two service aces.
 
The Yellowjackets will wrap up the round robin on Sunday, Sept. 29 with another top-25 matchup against No. 8 WashU on Sunday, Sept. 29 at 10:00 a.m. at the John A. Paulsen Center.