ATLANTA, GA – The University of Rochester women's volleyball team opened University Athletic Association (UAA) conference play with a pair of three-set defeats at the hands of the University of Chicago Maroons and the 5th-ranked Washington University in St. Louis Bears on Saturday at the UAA Round Robin #1, hosted by Emory University.
 
With the two losses, the Yellowjackets drop to 3-10 (0-2 UAA) on the year, while the Maroons now sit at 6-8 (1-1 UAA) following a win over URochester and a loss to NYU, and No. 5 WashU is 12-1 (2-0 UAA) after topping both NYU and UR.
 
Match One: Chicago 3, Rochester 0
The opening set would prove to be the closest of the three, with the Yellowjackets notching five kills and holding multiple leads throughout the early going. Chicago notched the first four points of the set on Ellie Maxwell's serve, before the 'Jackets answered back with three-straight points of their own, pulling within a point on Sancia Williams' kill.
 
UR and Chicago traded runs to open the first set, with the 'Jackets notching three straight again after the Maroons went up 6-3. Back-to-back aces by McKenzie McDonald tied the score at six-all, while Rochester would take its first lead of the set on a block by Rylee Bergeron and Paige Stephenson to mak it 8-7 URochester.
 
The Yellowjackets led by as many as three, 13-10, following Lydia Weeks' ace before a 6-2 Maroons' run put Chicago up 16-15 on Caroline Sele's kill.
 
Rochester kept things close, tying the set at 17-all on Bergeron's kill, while back-to-back service errors leveled the score at 18-all, and then a kill and another service error again evened the score at 19.
 
After Diya Mishra sent over a kill, Rochester called a timeout down 20-19 and notched the next two points on Bergeron's kill and another Weeks' ace to take a 21-20 lead, but Mishra quickly tied it with another kill.
 
The 'Jackets again went up one, 22-21, on Ellen Porter's kill, but the Maroons scored the next two, taking a 23-22 lead on a block by Thalita Marangon and Olivia Zamis. UR again tied it on an attack error, but Chicago scored the next two points to take the set, 25-23.
 
Up 1-0 in the match, the Maroons raced out to an early lead in the second set, rallying for the first five points of the set and leading 9-3 before Rochester took a timeout. UChicago extended its lead to 11-3 before a service error slowed its run, but five more points before UR was forced to take another timeout made it a 16-4 Maroon advantage.
 
Another service error and three more points from the Maroons made it a 19-5 lead, and Chicago would cruise to a 25-10, set-two victory to go up 2-0 in the match.
 
Rochester would take the early lead in set three, with another Weeks' ace capping off a 4-0 run to start the set. But despite the early advantage, the Maroons would answer back down 6-3 with a run of their own, turning the three-point deficit into a seven-point advantage before Rochester took a timeout.
 
Down 6-3, Chicago rattled off the next three points to take the lead, before a service error leveled the set at seven-all. The Maroons then scored the next three and five of the next seven, before capping off the extended run with another five points to take a 17-9 lead on Adelee Kaiton's kill out of the 'Jackets timeout.
 
Stephenson's kill got Rochester back on the board, while kills from Bergeron, Lilly Kramer and Porter, as well as Weeks' ace, pulled the 'Jackets within seven, but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome.
 
Three more from the Maroons brought up match point, up 24-14, and while UR once held off set point with a service error, Mishra's kill gave Chicago the set, 25-15, and the match, 3-0.
 
Offensively, Williams led UR with six kills, while Bergeron added five. McDonald tallied a team-high seven assists, while Weeks led UR with both four aces and defensively with eight digs.
 
Match Two: #5 WashU 3, Rochester 0
The opening set would again be the closest of the three between Rochester and No. 5 WashU, as the 'Jackets hit .214 and smashed 16 kills in the first set. Isis Pribble's kill got Rochester on the board, while back-to-back kills from Williams helped level the score at four-all in the early going against the Bears.
 
After the Bears surged ahead, 14-9, and forced Rochester to take a timeout, Pribble landed another kill out of the timeout, and down 16-10, the 'Jackets answered back with four-straight points of their own.
 
Bergeron, Stephenson and Williams all notched kills over the brief spurt, but the Bears took a timeout to regroup and scored the next five points to take a 21-14 lead on back-to-back errors.
 
UR took a timeout of their own and earned the next point on a WashU error, but the Bears answered back with a Sam Buckley kill, and then a block by Nia Jones and Anna Freeman.
 
Two points later, another block by Jones and Freeman brought up set point, but the Yellowjackets would hold off set point five times before the Bears could finish things off. Down 24-16, Rochester rallied for four-in-a-row, with three kills from Bergeron sandwiching an ace from Kraemer, forcing the Bears to spend a timeout.
 
Another kill, this one from Juliette Azzariti, pulled Rochester within three, 24-21, but Freeman answered back for the Bears with a kill to take the set for WashU, 25-21.
 
The Bears then took control in the second set, forcing an early Rochester timeout with a 6-1 to go up 8-4 on five-straight UR attack errors. Out of the timeout, Rochester pulled within a point on Claire Feczko's kill, but WashU answered back with four of the next five.
 
WashU then raced out to a 17-9 advantage with a 5-0 run, and added three points more following a Yellowjacket timeout to make it 20-9. Bergeron's kill and a block by Bergeron and Kraemer made it a nine-point game, but the Bears finished off the set with five of the next six points, taking a 2-0 match lead with a 25-12 set-two win.
 
Freeman and the Bears then kept things rolling into the third set, tallying six of the first seven points of the set to open an early lead, looking to finish off the sweep.
 
WashU led by as many as 10, 16-6, following a Rochester timeout, but the Yellowjackets clawed their way back, cutting the Bears' lead down to six with six of the next eight points.
 
Kills from Leah Oyewole and Eva Boling, though, put the Bears up eight, and UR wouldn't get any closer than seven the rest of the way. Feczko made it 23-15 with a kill from Azzariti, while an attack error again made it a seven-point game, before WashU finished off the set and match with the next two points, winning the set, 25-16 to sweep the match, 3-0.
 
Bergeron led Rochester against the Bears with a double-double, tallying 11 kills and 10 digs, while Weeks added a team-high 15 digs and Iliana Balaskas had a team-best 10 assists.
 
Rochester will wrap up UAA Round Robin #1 on Sunday, Sept. 28, with a matchup against New York University at 10:00 a.m. inside Woodruff Arena in Atlanta, GA.