Volleyball: Jumbos enter postseason undefeated in the NESCAC for second straight year

The Tufts volleyball team secured its second consecutive year as the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC tournament over the weekend. With wins over Wesleyan and Conn. College, Tufts improved to 10–0 in its conference this season. As the Jumbos prepare to host the NESCAC tournament yet again, sophomore middle hitter Heather Holz reflected on the position that the team is in.

“We are definitely excited about being 10-0, but we cannot take it for granted. We have some great competitors in the NESCAC and have to give 150% at all times,” Holz told the Daily in an email. “It is great to be hosting the event again this year, and having Jumbo fans cheering you on adds additional momentum.”

On Saturday, Tufts visited Middletown, Conn. for a game against Wesleyan, who sits just below Tufts at No. 2 in the NESCAC. The Cardinals had a chance to steal the No. 1 seed away from the Jumbos with a win.Junior outside hitter Mackenzie Bright described the team's mindset before the game began.

“We were very conscious that hosting NESCACs was riding on that game, but we also knew that if we only focused on that, we wouldn’t be our best," Bright said. 

It seemed initially as if the game might have been trending toward an upset, as Wesleyan jumped out to a 10–3 lead in the first set.Tufts managed to cut the lead to 13–11 after an attacking error by Wesleyan sophomore outside hitter Stasie Litinsky, but that was as close as the visitors got. The Cardinals coasted the rest of the way to a 25–19 first-set victory. Bright spoke about how the team reacted to the first set, knowing they had to move past it and onto the second. 

"We just tried to relax. We were really tense because they were a really great team, and they did not let up in the first couple points, so we got knocked back on our heels," Bright said. "We really just had to take a deep breath and remember to play our game, not theirs."

The Jumbos needed to respond in the second set, and that’s exactly what they did, building as large as a 17–6 lead with strong serving runs from multiple players. Tufts did not falter its lead, finishing off the second set 25–18, tying the match score at 1–1.An extremely tight third set followed, culminating in a game point with the score 25–24 in Wesleyan's favor.Bright kept hope alive with a kill to tie the score, and a subsequent Tufts kill followed by a Wesleyan attacking error allowed Tufts to slip by with a 27–25 victory.

The fourth set began much the same way as the third. However, an 8–1 run put together by the Jumbos in the middle of the set gave them an 18–12 lead. This was the final blow against Wesleyan, and Tufts left the gym on Saturday with a 3–1 victory — a perfect capstone to its unblemished conference record. Holz led the team with 12 kills for the game, while Bright, sophomore outside hitter Brigid Bell and sophomore right side hitter Maddie Stewart each added 11 kills.

The day before, the Jumbos were just a short drive away from Middletown, with a match against another conference opponent: Conn. College. Despite the Camels' 2–6 record in the NESCAC entering the match, they proved to be no easy win for the Jumbos.

“They might not be highly ranked, but they were still a really scrappy team, and they challenged us so much during the game," Bright said. "They were really good at throwing balls short that we were having a hard time adjusting to. It was definitely a wake-up call of things we needed to change before we saw Wesleyan on Saturday.”

Even with the Jumbos managing to build a few leads in the first set of the match, the score was tied 22–22 down the stretch before the Jumbos rattled off three straight kills to take a 1–0 lead in the match. Playing with momentum, Tufts jumped out to a 7–3 lead early in the second set, and the scoreline never got any closer than that. Holz closed the second set with a kill off a set from junior setter Angela Yu, as the Jumbos won 25–20.

Despite trailing 2–0 in the match, the Camels kept fighting, leading in the third set until the Jumbos tied the score at 17.The hosts then won seven of their next eight points via kills en route to a 25–22 third-set victory to keep their chances alive. Despite the Camels good play in the third set, their offense faltered in the fourth set and posted a number of errors, as the Jumbos easily won 25–16 to finish off the 3–1 match victory.Bell had 11 kills and 10 digs for the day, and sophomore libero Kelly Klimo added 18 digs of her own. 

Tufts will host Bates on Friday in the first round of the NESCAC tournament. After falling in the NESCAC championship game last season, the Jumbos look to change the story this year with a successful weekend.