COLLEGE
VOLLEYBALL FINAL SCORE
NESCAC Championship Quarterfinal
Tufts 3, Wesleyan 0 (29-27, 25-23, 25-16)
At Medford, MA
Friday, November 6, 2009
Match
Statistics
MEDFORD -- The top seeded Tufts University Jumbos opened the
2009 NESCAC Volleyball tournament on their home court with a
three-set victory over the #8 seed Cardinals of Wesleyan University
on Friday night. The Jumbos got victories of 29-27, 25-23, and
25-16 to advance to the semi-finals on Saturday afternoon.
The match was high energy from the beginning, and would not let
up, featuring many long points and good heads-up plays from both
sides. Tufts jumped out to an early 13-9 lead behind the serving of
first-year Brittany Neff (Culver City, CA), who
pumped in an early ace in a five-point Jumbo scoring streak.
Wesleyan came roaring back, and behind the serving of junior Ruby
Hernandez (West Palm Beach, FL) took the lead at 22-20. Senior
Ashley Farrow (Evanston, IL) led the charge for Wesleyan with three
kills in the first set.
The Cardinals battled to a 24-23 lead, and looked poised to
start off the party with an upset, but squandered the chance after
a service error. Both teams had chances to put the game away with
the set in extra points, but were unable to finish it off. Finally,
Neff and senior co-captain Dena Feiger (Long Grove,
IL) combined for a crucial block, putting Tufts up 28-27,
before Dawson Joyce-Mendive (Minden, NV) put the
game away. Mendive would prove to be the answer for the Jumbos all
night long, as she led the home team with 16 kills, contributing 4+
kills in each of the three sets.
Fired up by their first-set comeback, Tufts came out strong in
the second set and took a 10-5 lead, helped by great digs from
several players and a big block by Lexi Nicholas (San
Diego, CA). As they had in the first game, Wesleyan
courageously fought back, putting Tufts on the ropes again. Junior
Lesley Faulkner (Middletown, CT) won seven straight points for the
Cardinals, a streak in which she recorded two aces, and Wesleyan
took a 15-12 lead. The Jumbos fought back with the help of junior
Caitlin Updike (Manhattan Beach, CA), who had five
of her 12 kills in the second game. Updike and Nicholas combined on
a block to put Tufts up 23-21, and Updike sealed the game with two
more kills.
A second serving ace by Kuan, and another from junior
Nancy Shrodes (Manhattan Beach, CA) helped Tufts
jump out to leads of 9-2 and 15-5 in the third set, en route to a
25-16 victory and a three-set win.
Feiger tallied 39 assists for Tufts. On defense, Kuan's 19 digs
along with 13 by Feiger paced the Jumbos.
Ellie Healy (Manhattan Beach, CA) set up 29 points for the
visitors. Sophomore Casey Reed (Manhattan Beach, CA) assisted on
five blocks for Wesleyan, and added five kills in defeat. Faulkner
and Farrow each had eight kills to co-lead the Cardinals on the
evening, while Hernandez led the team with 16 digs.
Tufts improved to 27-3 overall, while Wesleyan finished its
season at 13-14. The Jumbos will host #5 seed Amherst on Saturday
afternoon in the semi-finals. The Lord Jeffs won an exciting
five-set match against #4 seed Middlebury in the first round.
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