The volleyball team fell short in the NESCAC tournament this past weekend with a loss in the semifinals to Wesleyan in five sets (25–19, 25–27, 25–18, 19–25, 12–15). Tufts had beat Williams in its first match of the tournament on Friday night (26–24, 25–12, 25–21).
Despite not making it to Sunday's championship game, the team did receive an at-large bid for the NCAA championship tournament.
“Obviously not the outcome we wanted, but I do think it was a great experience, especially with such a young team, most of us not having any playoff experience,” senior co-captain and outside/opposite hitter Cate Desler said. “We didn’t play scared and no one shrunk from the challenge which was great to see. It was a good experience leading up to this weekend since everyone now has two playoff games under their belts, and maybe some underlying nerves will be diminished now.”
During the regular season, the Jumbos lost to the Ephs in five sets, so they were excited to get a second chance to redeem themselves on the big stage of the NESCAC tournament. Desler and sophomore outside hitter Rileigh Farragher both led the team with eight kills each. Junior libero Stephanie Lee recorded 16 digs for the night.
Sophomore setter Maddie Yu said in preparation for the weekend, the team really just focused on themselves.
“Obviously, we wanted to beat these two teams because we had lost to them in the past," Yu said. "Our main focus though was just to play our best version of volleyball on our side of the net.”
On Saturday, the Tufts Jumbos faced a hard-fought battle against the Wesleyan Cardinals, similar to their five set loss in the regular season. They came just short in an energetic fifth set. Desler and junior outside/opposite hitter Maya Lightfoot led the team with 14 kills apiece. Senior setter Ariel Zedric and Yu recorded 25 and 24 assists respectively. Lee totaled an impressive 28 digs for the afternoon.
Head coach Cora Thompson said there were a lot of good takeaways to bring with them for the rest of the postseason.
“For the most part, we controlled the tempo of both matches, and when the other teams sped up their tempos we responded with some truly phenomenal defensive efforts,” Thompson said. “We have a very balanced offense and worked to get all of our hitters involved when we could. The NESCAC tournament is the toughest tournament to win because so many of our teams are top ranked teams in the region. We always expect battles and that is what we got. We are better today for the challenges of this past weekend.”
Looking ahead to the NCAA regional tournament, Farragher said she is incredibly excited for the season to continue.
“I’m just looking forward to getting a chance to play good volleyball. We know that as far as we can go now is as far as our season will take us,” Farragher said. “This is our opportunity to give it all we have.”
The team will face Eastern University at 12:30 p.m. at Johns Hopkins University this Friday.
