Saturday's NESCAC volleyball semifinals featured two of the nation's hottest teams. But one of them had to lose, and unfortunately for the Jumbos, the higher seed prevailed.
The Jumbos went into the crucial semifinal match with Williams having won 12 of their last 13 matches, including seven against NESCAC opponents. The Ephs entered on a similar streak, having rolled off 14 of 16 and nine in conference play. After handily winning their quarterfinal matches, the red-hot No. 2 and No. 3 seeds squared off for the second time this season.
The teams' first meeting was Sept. 14 in the Jumbos' conference opener, a match that the Ephs swept 3-0. Tufts then rebounded to finish the regular season with an 18-12 record, going 7-3 in the NESCAC. This time, however, the Jumbos would not have a comeback opportunity, as a 3-0 defeat (30-20, 30-26, 30-21) brought Tufts' season to a close.
"[Williams] is a really good team, and they've got great hitters," junior Natalie Goldstein said. "We were really quiet on the court, but we still showed how great a team we were. We never gave up. Even down 10 when they were about to win, we just kept on fighting, and we showed our grit."
Coach Marritt Cafarchia highlighted the team's inability to play its usual tempo and stay offensive-minded.
"We were always on the defensive," she wrote in an e-mail to the Daily. "They served us tough and had a lot of finishers. We fought hard and it just did not happen for us that day."
Goldstein paced the Jumbos in digs with 19, while junior Stacy Filocco and freshman Dawson Joyce-Mendive finished with 12 apiece. Tufts was hurt by the absence of senior captain Katie Wysham, who was injured in practice just before the first match against Trinity. Wysham's imposing presence in the middle has wreaked havoc on opposition this season, and the Jumbos struggled to adapt to playing without the senior, easily the NESCAC's blocks leader with 153.
"It was different," Filocco said. "People in there brought different dynamics. The middle hitter requires lot of practice, so we were missing out ... [Freshman] Caitlin Updike hadn't practiced middle since the first week, but she came in and did a great job and got some solid blocks."
Williams took the momentum from the win into the championship at LeFrak Gym, top-seeded Amherst's home court. Last year, Amherst beat Williams on the Ephs' turf, but the roles were reversed this weekend as Williams won its first NESCAC championship since 2004.
The Jumbos earned their spot in Saturday's semifinal round with a sweep of Trinity in Friday's first-round match, 30-26, 30-25 and 30-23.
"It wasn't the most beautiful game, but we got the job done," Goldstein said. "There were some great moments and we were clearly the better team."
Joyce-Mendive led the Jumbos with 17 kills, while Filocco contributed nine of her own. Goldstein and Trinity's senior co-captain Kathleen Lenz, who are first and second in the NESCAC in digs, finished with 23 apiece.
"We played allright," Filocco said. "There were a lot of nerves going in. We were playing with a really young team and made some new adjustments."
The team may not have played its best on either day of the tournament, but some things certainly went the Jumbos' way on Friday as they secured the victory.
"Our passing was very consistent, making the whole game smooth," said Feiger, who finished with a match-high 39 assists.
Last year, the Jumbos were eliminated in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament, a mark they were able to surpass despite playing with only one active senior and undergoing a temporary head coaching change. But the improvement aside, the Jumbos don't sound satisfied.
"It wasn't the way we wanted to end our season," Goldstein said. "We went in wanting and expecting to win, knowing that we could win. It just didn't go our way.
"I think our record doesn't reflect how great this team was," she continued. "We went through and overcame a lot. We turned out to be one of the top teams in the NESCAC and had a great season."
