While it did not fully make up for last year's season-ending loss to Williams in the NESCAC Tournament semifinals, the volleyball team exercised a measure of vengeance against the 2007 conference champions at this weekend's Brandeis Invitational.
The Jumbos swept the Ephs Saturday afternoon, an appropriate cap to a weekend full of sweeps as Tufts rolled over all four of its opponents without dropping a single set, improving its record on the season to 5-0.
Play commenced Friday evening, with Tufts taking on the Anchorwomen of Rhode Island College and winning in straight sets, 25-16, 25-13 and 25-16. Tufts was led offensively by senior tri-captain Kate Denniston and junior Brogie Helgeson, who each notched seven kills in the match. Denniston, who would later be named to the All-Tournament team, also contributed to the team's efficient service game, coming up with four aces in addition to the three notched by fellow senior tri-captain Stacy Filocco.
"We have been working on serving a lot in practice," Denniston said. "It helped mentally having fewer unforced errors."
Their service game proved to be a strength throughout the tournament, as Tufts went on to tally 20 service aces over the duration of the tournament and fewer than six service errors per match.
The Jumbos kept the momentum going in their next match against Babson, once again winning in straight sets 25-23, 25-19 and 25-14. In this match, the squad revealed its depth, mixing up the lineup and putting a number of underclassmen on the court, all of whom stepped up to perform.
"We are really deep this year," Filocco said. "There was a lot of contribution from the freshmen, and all 15 players contributed well all weekend."
One of the younger contributing players was sophomore Caitlin Updike, who tallied 14 kills against Babson.
"I was injured last year, so I really wanted to play and just worked hard," Updike said. "I needed to prove that I could produce offensively."
Updike was not the only underclassman to come up big in the tournament. Freshman Lexi Nicholas proved herself a force with six blocks against RIC and seven kills against Babson. Classmates Audrey Kuan and Cara Spieler also stepped up on the court defensively, tallying 15 and 14 digs respectively in the match versus Babson.
"We have a lot of young players that contribute a lot," Updike said. "Everyone on the bench could play a match, and it is awesome that we have so many people. It really helps in practice because the people who are starting wouldn't be so good if all the other players weren't pushing them."
Day two of tournament play Saturday saw the Jumbos pick up right where they left off, routing the Smith Pioneers by marks of 25-11, 25-16 and 25-18. Helgeson led the team's offense, netting 12 kills, and Filocco proved her versatility by racking up eight kills, 14 digs and 15 successful passes. Junior Dena Feiger also showed her prowess as a setter, notching 29 assists in the victory, a performance she would better later in the day against Williams with 41.
In their final match of the tournament, the Jumbos took on the reigning NESCAC champion Williams, which swept Tufts twice last year, including in the conference semis. The team remained unfazed, though, and avenged last season's defeats, downing the champs in straight sets, 25-22, 25-11 and 28-26. Tufts ran an efficient offense throughout the match, finishing with a .319 hitting percentage. Offensive standouts were once again Updike with 13 kills, Helgeson with 10 and Denniston with nine.
Denniston attributed much of this offensive production to the team's efforts on defense.
"We had really good sets, and the defense helped a lot," she said. "It helped us become more efficient on offense."
"We have been working on defense the past couple of weeks almost exclusively," Filocco said. "We have a lot of hitters and are really deep, but the defense really pulls everything together."
Exceeding her 10-dig performances against RIC and Smith, senior tri-captain Natalie Goldstein came up with 16 digs in the final match, as well as one of the team's six service aces.
"Especially versus Williams, defense was key," Goldstein said. "Williams is an incredibly scrappy team that never lets a ball drop. We had extremely long rallies with them, and our defense was able to continue them."
Goldstein was by no means alone on the defensive end, as Filocco and senior Maya Ripecky each added another 11 digs.
After opening their initial match of the year with a first set loss against the Stonehill Skyhawks Sept. 9, the Jumbos have not surrendered a set since. They went on to overcome Stonehill in four sets and have only improved with each match played. Any preseason nerves that they may have had seem to be all but gone now.
"We had an epic preseason," Goldstein said. "We took that entire time to prepare for one match, and we built up a lot of excitement and nerves. This weekend we got more comfortable with each other and playing as a team. Getting more comfortable with each other and learning how everyone works is why we are getting better and better."
"Each game we stepped it up a level, which will really help in the future," Denniston said.
The Jumbos will put their perfect record on the line tonight in Cousens Gym when they take on the 5-4 Gordon College Fighting Scots at 7 p.m.
