MEDFORD - The Tufts University Jumbos picked up a three-set sweep (25-8, 25-18, 25-19) over the Emerson College Lions in non-league volleyball action on Senior Night Wednesday evening at Cousens Gymnasium.
Before the match, Tufts honored its three seniors: Audrey Kuan (Los Altos, CA), Lexi Nicholas (San Diego, CA) and Cara Spieler (Santa Barbara, CA).
The Jumbos came out firing on all cylinders in the first set, tallying the first three points which included a pair of service aces from first year Hayley Hopper (Carlsbad, CA). After an ace from Spieler, the Tufts lead grew to 11 at 13-2. The closest Emerson would get the rest of the set was nine as the Jumbos cruised to a 25-8 first-set victory.
Emerson kept things much closer in the second set, but their only lead came at 1-0. The Lions were within three at 19-16, before Tufts started to pull away. Two kills from Hopper and a block by junior Kendall Lord (LaJolla, CA) pushed the Jumbos to a 24-16 advantage before they took the 25-18 win.
Emerson had the lead three separate times in the third set. Kills by freshman Kat Rice (Delmar, NY) and by senior Megan Kaplon (Yellow Springs, OH) gave the Lions an early 3-1 advantage. Tufts tied it at 3-3 before Emerson went back up 4-3, but that would be the last lead for the Lions. After the Jumbos went up 9-6, their lead did not sink lower than three en route to a 25-19 third-set win and the match sweep.
Spieler led Tufts with a match-high 19 kills, getting them in 29 attempts with just one error for a spectacular .621 percentage on Seniors Night. Hopper added 10 kills, two aces and five digs. Lord's 40 assists were a match high while Kuan finished with nine digs, six assists and one ace. First year Juliana Goodbar (Berkeley, CA) came off the bench and had three block assists.
Kaplon was the Emerson leader with seven kills while adding six digs. Senior Kathleen Bailey (Calabasas, CA) finished with 10 assists and two service aces. Junior Kelsey Scanlon (Sonoma, CA) and senior Madeleine Breeland (Fairfax, VA) added nine and seven digs each.
The Jumbos are now 21-4 and will return to NESCAC play on Friday for their final conference match at Connecticut College at 6 pm. Emerson falls to 20-7 and playd a GNAC double-header on Saturday at Mount Ida at 12 pm and at Emmanuel at 4 pm.
Match statistics
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