The Observer, November 9, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 10
Volleyball falls in tough UAA matches at Rochester
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Guts can only get you so far when you're facing some of the best teams in the country. The Spartans played hard, but brutal competition knocked the blue and white from the fifth seed to seventh place out of eight teams at the UAA Volleyball Championship last Friday and Saturday. Case dropped matches to Washington University, Carnegie Mellon and to the host school, the University of Rochester, before beating the University of Chicago in the seventh-place match.
The Spartans had to hit the ground running: they started the tournament with a match against the Wash. U. Bears, a team that entered the tournament ranked fourth in the nation. "When you start with the best, everyone else becomes more human," said Coach Karen Farrell. The Bears feature a balanced team that excels in its size and athleticism. "A good word to describe Wash. U is 'tall,'" said sophomore middle blocker S.K. Piper. Though they fought hard for every point, the Bears dominated the match, taking three straight games 12-30, 21-30, and 17-30. The Spartans came closest to a win during the second game, when they were up 14-13.
Wash. U.'s Nikki Morrison led the Bears' offensive effort, totaling 12 kills on the match. Case's Julie Schaefer double-doubled with 10 assists and 11 digs. Piper had six kills.
Two hours later, the Spartans faced off against the Tartans of Carnegie Mellon, who would go on to finish third in the UAA. The Tartans followed Wash. U.'s lead and also swept Case in three frames, 25-30, 20-30, 28-30. Carnegie Mellon's team was bereft of one star player, but they were solid at each position and on each side of the ball. The Spartans, on the other hand, struggled offensively. Freshman outside hitter Anne Murphy was one of the few bright spots, pounding in 10 kills. Schaefer double-doubled for the second straight match with 15 assists and 15 digs.
Case made it interesting in the third game. Trailing 25-16, the Spartans went on a 10-to-one run to tie the game up at 26 points a piece. But the Tartans solidified their defense and edged out the Spartans.
For Case, the most dramatic match of the tournament was a day later against the Rochester Yellowjackets, when the Spartans fell in five frames, 30-24, 30-26, 16-30, 35-37, 14-16. After losing the first two games, the Spartans came back strong in game three and carried that momentum into an extraordinary game four. The Spartans battled back from a 29-26 deficit and fought off three consecutive match points to tie the game up at 29-29. Both teams continued to battle into overtime as the score again was tied at 35 points apiece. "We've been resilient all year when we've faced match points," said Farrell. Two straight Spartan points iced the victory and sent the match to game five.
Two straight S.K. Piper kills tied the score at 10-10 in game five. Freshman outside hitter Beth Karpinski then made a huge block, forcing Rochester's attack out of bounds, and gave the Spartans a 12-11 lead. An Alicia Beckett ace put the Spartans up 14-13 and within one point of winning the match. Yet the Yellowjackets rallied with three straight points that cut short those hopes.
"Losing to Rochester was tough, especially when it was such a close 
match," said outside hitter Elise Snell. "It was more difficult knowing that had we won, we would have 
had the potential to have come in third place overall."
Case's lone senior, middle blocker Julianna Burrows, had an incredible performance against Rochester in what was her second to final match as a Spartan. Burrows led the defensive effort with eight blocked shots. She also had the second-most kills against Rochester (16). " I wanted to walk out of the gym 
with a great memory, a day I could look back on and say 'I played with 
heart, and I finished strong,"' said Burrows.
Her teammates were impressed. "Saying that she went out with a bang would be an understatement," said Piper. "I think the Rochester game was the best game of her 
life."
The Spartans got a win in their final match against the University of Chicago, this time ending up on the upside of a five-frame match (31-33, 30-19, 24-30, 30-18, 15-12). Case didn't match up well against Chicago; the Maroons are a tall team that was capable of taking advantage of the Spartans' smaller stature. "That was a stressful match," said Farrell.
But in the end, Case was able to take advantage of the southsiders' weak passing and defensive skills. The Spartans cruised through a decisive game five, never looking back after Snell nailed a kill that put the Spartans up 7-3. Piper had a match-high 20 kills and freshman libero Andrea Lamont led the defense with 26 digs.
