Box Score
|
| Mary Maccabee had six kills for the Jumbos in the win Friday night. |
MEDFORD – The Jumbos opened play in the New England Challenge on Friday night on their home court in Cousens Gym against local-rival Wellesley, and pulled out a 3-1 victory over the Blue. The Jumbos have two more contests on the schedule tomorrow to round out tournament play.
With the 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-14) win the Jumbos move to 16-4 on the season with a 6-2 mark in NESCAC play. The Blue are now 12-12 this year with a 5-3 record in conference play.
In the first set the Jumbos and the Blue traded points early, exchanging the lead several times. With the match tied at 17, the Jumbos moved to a 21-17 lead thanks to a few Wellesley errors and a kill from senior co-captain Esme Nulan. The Jumbos earned a 25-21 win in set one, thanks to kills from six different players and no player turning in more than two kills in the set.
Set two was very similar as the Jumbos and the Blue traded points early. But, this time it was the Blue that jumped out and took a lead. With the Blue leading 8-4 the Jumbos called a timeout, but weren't able to stop the visitors as they scored five straight points behind the serve of Brook Fieldman to take a 14-7 lead over the Jumbos.
The home team did not give up, coming within three points at one point (18-15), but with a 24-20 lead the Blue got a kill from Yasmine Reece to earn the 25-20 win in set two to even the match at one each. The Blue got four kills from Reece and four kills from Elise Griffin in the set to help them earn the win.
The Jumbos took an early lead in the third set and were able to hold on to that lead for the duration of the set. With the Jumbos leading 22-16, the Blue made a small comeback, scoring four points thanks to a couple of Jumbo errors and two kills from Griffin. After a Tufts timeout, the Jumbos got a kill from junior Mary Maccabee, a Wellesley error and a kill by junior McKenzie Humann gave the Jumbos the 25-20 win.
It was the fourth set that was won by the largest margin. Though things were close early, the Jumbos built up to a 10-8 lead. With seven consecutive points behind the serve of senior Maddie Kuppe the Jumbos built a 20-11 lead. After a Wellesley timeout, and a couple of points for both teams, the Jumbos took advantage of two Wellesley errors and a kill from Nulan sealed the 25-13 win in set four for the home team.
Reece was the offensive leader for the Blue with 14 kills, while Fieldman finished with 11 and Griffin totaled eight. Michelle Li ran the offense for the Blue, finishing with 34 assists. Defensively, Katie Yan turned in 17 digs, and Samantha Hoang added 15 while Fieldman finished with 14. Fieldman and Griffin both finished with one solo block each.
For the Jumbos Kuppe was the offensive leader with nine. But it was a true team offensive effort as the Jumbos received kills from ten different players. Behind Kuppe, junior Elizabeth Ahrens finished with eight, Maccabee six and Nulan five. Senior Kyra Baum and rookie Angela Yu split the setting duties, as Baum finished with 21 assists and Yu with 13. Defensively senior co-captain Carolina Berger was the leader with 11 digs while Yu added ten of her own, and Baum finished with eight. Ahrens added two solo blocks and two block assists and Humann finished with one solo block and three block assists.
Wellesley will play again tomorrow in the New England Challenge, facing off with two more NESCAC teams as they take on Williams at 11 am and then Middlebury at 3 pm. The Jumbos resume play in the New England Challenge on Saturday when they travel to MIT to take on the host Engineers at 11 am and follow that with a match with Babson at 3 pm.
