Despite graduating a core group of seniors in 2016, the Tufts volleyball program still believes in its potential to win a national championship this year thanks to seven first-year players who have quickly acclimated to Div. III and exhibited the focus required to play for a perennial regional contender.
"It’s a big group coming in but at the same time, I think that the volleyball IQ is really high across the board, even with the returners, so these freshmen are coming in at a higher baseline than maybe our typical rookie group," coach Cora Thompson said.
In what is looked back upon as a disappointing season, Tufts finished 17-8 overall and 7-3 in conference play. On Nov. 6, Tufts fell 3-1 against Middlebury in the first round of the NESCAC tournament in Brunswick, Maine. After making, and losing, in the NESCAC championship game and the NCAA championship's second round in 2014, the early end last year felt especially abrupt. Senior co-captain Elizabeth Ahrens said that the team believed they could have given more and that this season, she and the team intend to give their all.
"We were inconsistent emotionally and physically," Thompson said. "Mentally we weren’t as tough as we needed to be. I think we had a lot of great athletic pieces last year and we did a lot of really nice things but I think the general feeling was that we left a lot on the table."
The Jumbos graduated setter Kyra Baum, libero Carolina Berger, outside hitter Maddie Kuppe and right side hitter Esme Nulan in the class of 2016 and all four played integral roles last season. Kuppe led the team with 299 kills, the third most in the NESCAC. Her 252 digs, the second most for Tufts, highlight her prowess on offense and defense. Kuppe was also deadly on serves, with 42 service aces in 86 sets, or an ace every other set. Baum was second on the team in assists and Berger led the Jumbos in digs.
The seven first-year players must now step into the shoes of the graduated seniors, as there are only 16 players on the roster, leaving no room to hide. Thompson thinks that her first-years are more than capable and that their versatility allows her a greater degree of flexibility with match-ups than she has had in the past.
"We have three incredible setters, which is very very exciting," Thompson said. "We have four really great middles, and we have three defenders who are all very very capable of getting the job done, and then pin players -- they can be outsides or opposites and play in either spot, so even within the course of a rally, we can get an outside hitter who’d switch to stay. We could be running a 5-1 offense; we could run a 6-2. It’s great to have a lot of pieces that we can move."
The returning players are skilled in their own right, as Ahrens was third in the NESCAC in both hitting percentage and blocks per set last season. Junior co-captain Alex Garrett dug out the third most balls after Berger and Kuppe last year and will likely lead the team in that crucial aspect of the game. Sophomore Angela Yu led the Jumbos in assists last season and her classmate MacKenzie Bright averaged the second most kills per set on the team. With such capable players teaching the first-years and taking on larger roles, there is no question that the team exudes confidence this preseason.
"In our practices, the ball never drops," Ahrens said. "That’s our energy when we step on the court. Anything you can possibly do to keep the ball up."
In order to prepare the first-years for the rigors of NESCAC competition, Thompson scheduled a scrimmage against Williams this past weekend, and Tufts won the friendly in five sets. Winning a preseason scrimmage is nothing like a real game, but beating the 2013 and 2014 NESCAC champion, not to mention last year's runner-up, in any setting is an accomplishment.
"Williams is going to be a top team in the region -- there’s no question -- and I expect us to be a top team in the region, so it was really awesome to have our rookies experience the big block on the other side and the speed of the game, even though it was rough all-around," Thompson said. "Any time Williams is across the net, you’re getting awesome vibes, and [Williams] coach Kelsey and I know exactly what we are doing when we put our squads across from each other across the net ... because they want to win."
Although Thompson is pleased with the first-years' success on the court in practice so far and against Williams, she is most impressed with how quickly the rookies developed rapport and chemistry with their older teammates. The team's close-knit culture and both captains' efforts to ensure volleyball remains fun aided in the first-years' transition.
"Volleyball is what we fell in love with when we were younger," Garrett said. "It’s what we came here to play and obviously we are all into winning but when it comes down to it, that is your first love so you want to have fun doing it."
This year, the team is focusing on ball-control and defense, as Thompson believes that whichever team has the best ball-control inevitably wins. That said, the main strength of this team is up-front blocking, which in turn relieves pressure on the defense in the back.
Influx of first-year talent to help volleyball bounce back
