Tartans Top NYU, Fall to Brandeis

Oct. 13 – (CLEVELAND, Ohio) – Carnegie Mellon University started the second University Athletic Association (UAA) Round Robin tournament with their first win over New York University since 2004. The Tartans topped the Violets 3-0 before falling in five games to Brandeis University.  The Tartans are now 13-9 and 3-2 in UAA play. NYU moves to 3-2 in association play while Brandeis is 3-2 each with two association matches to play.

The Tartans used a heavy attack to defeat NYU by scores of 30-24, 30-26 and 30-28. Sophomore Jessica Brackin (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) led with 12 kills, while junior Chisom Amaechi (New Haven, Conn./Hopkins) totaled nine. Senior Kate Stepp (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) worked on offense and defense compiling eight kills and six digs. Sophomore setter Samantha Carter (San Antonio, Texas/O'Conor) set up 38 kills, while totaling two service aces and four total blocks.

Freshman Cameron Griffin (Lake Forest, Ill.) had seven digs on defense and senior Abbie Toney (Des Moines, Iowa/Johnston) stuffed three NYU kill attempts, while Brackin had four block assists and two service aces.

Carnegie Mellon struggled to put Brandeis away after winning the first and third games by 30-25 and 30-22 scores. The Judges came up with a 35-33 game four win to tie the score at 2-2 and used it to win 16-14 in game five.

Brackin, Stepp and freshman Caroline Size (Lewes, Del./Saint Thomas Moore Academy) each had 11 kills, while Toney put 10 attempts away and totaled eight blocks, two solo. Brackin was also big at the net collecting five block solos and five block assists. Carter tallied 50 assists for the match, while Griffin had 23 digs and seven service aces. Amaechi also had a presence at the net with four block assists.

The Tartans continue association play on Sunday with a 9:00 a.m. match against Emory University and follow it with a match against the University of Rochester.