CLEVELAND, OH – Despite a valiant effort against the host Spartans, the University of Rochester women's volleyball dropped its two matches against the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans, 3-0, and the Case Western Reserve University Spartans, 3-2, on Sunday at the University Athletic Association's Round Robin #2, hosted by CWRU inside Horsburgh Gymnasium.
 
Following the results of the round robin, Rochester falls to 3-15 (0-5 UAA) on the year, while Carnegie Mellon moves to 17-6 (3-2 UAA) and Case Western Reserve now stands at 12-11 (3-2 UAA).
 
Match One: Carnegie Mellon 3, Rochester 0
The Tartans outhit the Yellowjackets, .357 to .089, tallying 40 kills to just 24 for URochester in the three-set affair.
 
The Yellowjackets kept things close in the first set, bouncing back from an early Carnegie Mellon to trail by one point, 10-9, following a 5-1 run of their own. Lydia Weeks' ace capped off the 'Jackets rally, and Rochester stayed within a couple of points of the Tartans throughout the set until a 4-0 spurt from CMU forced UR to take a timeout down 17-12.
 
However, Rochester responded with a rally of its own, scoring seven of the next eight points to take a 19-18 lead on three-straight aces served by Katie Westerheim. The 'Jackets led 20-19, and then 22-20 just a few serves later, but the Tartans would tie the match at 22-all out of a timeout.
 
And despite a service error that gave UR a 23-22 advantage, the Tartans scored the next three points to take the set, 25-23.
 
Carnegie Mellon then rolled into the second set and opened an early lead, forcing the 'Jackets to spend a timeout just seven points in, down 6-1. And despite cutting into the Tartans' lead and trailing by just two, 14-12, following a pair of kills from Rylee Bergeron and Sancia Williams, CMU opened a six-point lead with a 4-0 rally, and held on late to take the set, 25-19.
 
Then in set three, the Tartans raced out to a 9-2 advantage and never looked back, leading by eight before the Yellowjackets called a timeout, and extending their lead to 18-6 before Rochester took another.
 
Down 18-6, UR would get as close as 11 down the stretch, before Carnegie Mellon finished off the set and match with three-straight points, sweeping the match with a 25-11 set-three win.
 
Williams led UR with 10 kills while Myla Nover-Estes added nine. Iliana Balaskas dished out a team-high 22 assists while Westerheim tallied four aces, and Nover-Estes and Weeks each added two.
 
Defensively, Weeks led the 'Jackets with eight digs, while Paige Stephenson and Williams combined for URochester's lone block.
 
Match Two: Case Western Reserve 3, Rochester 2
The Yellowjackets would bounce back from their three-set loss to the Tartans to open UAA Round Robin #2 and take the opening set against the host Spartans. The 'Jackets smashed 13 kills and hit .242 in the first set, compared to .138 and nine kills for CWRU.
 
Following a back-and-forth start to the match, the Yellowjackets opened their first lead of the set with a 5-0 run, highlighted by a trio of kills from Nover-Estes, Ellen Porter and Williams. Porter's ace capped off the run, as URochester led by as many as four, 16-12, before the Spartans answered back with a spurt.
 
Three-straight Amanda Ngo kills brought CWRU within a point, but a kill from Nover-Estes kept the 'Jackets in front, and after kills from Porter and Williams made it a 19-16 UR advantage, the Spartans spent their second timeout to regroup.
 
And despite Case Western Reserve again pulling within one, the Yellowjackets would roll to a 25-19 set-one win, finishing off the first set on a 6-1 run, with another Porter ace, as well as a trio of CWRU miscues giving Rochester the opening-set win.
 
Case Western Reserve would answer back in the second, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead before the Yellowjackets notched a point, and leading 14-7 after UR took its second timeout.
 
And while URochester would keep things close and pull within two down the final stretch, 22-20, on kills from Nover-Estes and Williams, and twice held off set point, Kalli Wall notched a kill to give CWRU a 25-22 set-two win and tie the match at one set apiece.
 
The Spartans then surged ahead in the third set, never trailing after an early 3-1 deficit en route to a 25-16 set-three victory. CWRU took the lead with a 4-0 run after trailing 3-1, and then broke a 6-6 tie with a 6-1 rally.
 
Later in the set, a block from Kiya Levy and Sienna Olson gave the Spartans a 19-13 advantage and forced Rochester to take a timeout, while the Spartans scored three-straight points out of a timeout of their own to take the set, 25-16.
 
But URochester would bounce back in the fourth set, pushing the match to a decisive fifth set with a 25-21 win in the fourth. Kills by Bergeron and Williams, as well as another Porter ace, gave Rochester the first three points of the set, while back-to-back Nover-Estes kills helped UR open an 8-5 lead.
 
The 'Jackets then answered a brief Spartan spurt with four quick points of their own, going up 12-8 on Balaskas' service ace, with another 4-0 run on Valeria Berrios Puig's serve made it a 16-10 advantage out of CWRU's second timeout of the set.
 
Bergeron and Porter's block capped off the run, and while the Spartans would come all the way back to take a 20-18 lead with a 7-0 run, the 'Jackets responded with a run of their own, finishing the set on a 7-1 rally to force a fifth set.
 
Down 20-18, a service error gave the 'Jackets the serve, while Stephenson's kill and a block by Nover-Estes and Stephenson gave UR the lead. And after CWRU tied it at 22-all, Rochester scored the last four points of the set, the last two coming on Weeks' ace and Nover-Estes' kill to push things to five.
 
However, the Spartans quickly rolled out to a 7-2 advantage in the fifth set before Rochester took a timeout, scoring the first three points of the set before UR got on the scoreboard.
 
A kill from Bergeron and as well as a CWRU attack error, pulled URochester within three, 7-4, with four points later, Nover-Estes again made it a three-point game with another kill.
 
However, that'd be as close as Rochester would get, as the Spartans finished off the fifth set on a 5-0 run, with back-to-back Ngo kills giving Case Western Reserve the set, 15-7, and the match, 3-2.
 
Three Yellowjackets tallied double-digit kills, led by Bergeron's 17, while Nover-Estes tallied 16 and Williams added 15. Balaskas again led Rochester in the assist department with 43, while Porter had a team-high three service aces, with Balaskas and Week each adding two.
 
On defense, Bergeron had a team-high 22 digs, while Weeks tallied 18 and Balaskas recorded 15, joining Bergeron in recording double-digits in multiple categories.
 
After hitting .242 in the opening set, the 'Jackets hit .136 for the match, compared to a .222 hitting percentage for the Spartans, while Rochester tallied 56 kills, versus just 50 for Case Western Reserve.
 
Rochester next makes the short trip to Henrietta, NY for a tri-match against Clarkson and RIT, hosted by the Tigers on Saturday, Oct. 18, with the 'Jackets' first match beginning at 11:00 a.m.