Adding three more wins over the last week, the women's volleyball team extended its win streak to seven. Tufts now rests at 15-1 overall and first place in the NESCAC with a 7-0 record.
The Jumbos won in straight sets against Babson on Tuesday night in Cousens Gym after falling to their regional rival the Babson Beavers in four sets last year. Babson is now 12-8 on the season.
Tufts took control of the match from the start, winning the first set 25-12, and kept hold of that momentum for the rest of the night taking the next two sets 25-15 and 25-14 respectively. Babson was unsuccessful in its offense, recording 19 kills to Tufts' 36. Senior co-captain middle hitter Elizabeth Ahrens, first-year outside hitter Brigid Bell and first-year opposite Christina Nwankpaall finished the match with six kills to pace the Jumbo offense. Senior middle hitter McKenzie Humann added four blocks, along with three from Ahrens, and anchor a Tufts front line that was dominant against Babson’s hitters.
Tufts continued to prove itself against the other teams in the NESCAC as well, defeating Middlebury, which has a 12-4 record, in five sets on Saturday in a key conference matchup. The Jumbos showed their mettle on the road, all the way down to a crucial run late in the fifth set. Tufts scored six of the final eight points after the game had been knotted at 9-9 to win the last set 15-11.Middlebury came into the game riding an eight game win streak and with a 4-1 record in conference play. The Panthers' only other NESCAC loss came at Wesleyan back on Sept. 17.Junior outside hitter Katie Kim led the Jumbos in kills by a wide margin with 16 and sophomore setter Angela Yu did the bulk of the setting work, leading the team with 25 assists.
“Playing away is always [going to] be a bigger challenge than playing in your home, but Middlebury is a very good team and we knew it was gonna be a challenge right when we got there,” Yu said. “We just really had to stick together as a team throughout all five sets and really reduce errors on our side rather than focus on what they’re doing on their side, and I think that’s what helped us pull out the win.”
The Jumbos defeated the Hamilton Continentals on the road in Friday three sets to one.After dropping the first set 26-24 in extra points, the Jumbos went on to dominantly win the next three in a row 25-13, 25-16 and 25-3. Junior co-captain defensive specialist Alexandra Garrett earned seven service aces as a part of Tufts' overall dominant serving night. The Jumbos had 15 service aces to the Continentals' five.
A big part of Tufts' success this year has been the way it has adjusted to different opponents, switching around lineups between and even during matches to exploit the weaknesses they see in different teams.
“We do scout [teams] and at least know what we are getting ourselves into,” Nwankpa said. “Obviously teams play differently against every opponent, so we do a little homework on our opponents.”
Whether it involves playing hitters at different positions to exploit blocking match-ups, changing the rotations to spread out the big hitters or subbing in bench players to provide a spark, the Jumbos have seemingly had little trouble adjusting and working their opponents.
“Being able to match our players up match to match has been a nice advantage to have and something we work hard to maintain in practice,” coach Cora Thompson told the Daily in an email. “Our team is very comfortable with the strategic planning we do as a coaching staff and they come to the gym ready to execute the plan of the day.”
Tufts is now looking to sweep the rest of its NESCAC schedule with two conference matches against Bates and Colby coming up this week and a match against Connecticut College on Oct. 29 to finish the regular season.
“Right now we really want to host the NESCAC tournament and we’re in a good position to do it, but we really [have got to] just secure it,” Yu said. “The next three NESCAC games are [going to] be huge.”
The Jumbos hosted the NESCAC tournament in 2014 after posting a 9-1 conference record to finish first and they hope to bring it back to Cousens Gym again this year. Undefeated at home, Tufts has only dropped three sets in Cousens all season, so bringing the NESCAC tournament back home would be an advantage for Tufts and its ambitions for well beyond the regular season this year.
Jumbos tack on three more wins, extend streak to seven
