Box Score
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| Maddie Kuppe turned in her 15th double digit kill game of the season. |
MEDFORD – The Tufts volleyball team opened up Homecoming weekend with a win for the brown and blue, topping Bates, 3-1, in Cousens Gym Friday night. The win was the second of the week for the Jumbos who topped Endicott, 3-1, earlier this week.
With the win the Jumbos move to 11-4 overall this season, picking up their third NESCAC win to improve their conference record to 3-2. Bates falls to 6-9 overall, and 2-4 in NESCAC play.
The Jumbos jumped out to an early two set lead before the Bobcats took set three, but the Jumbos came through with a 25-18 win in set four to take the match, 25-12, 25-19, 22-25, 25-18.
In set one it was the home team that cruised to a 7-1 lead to open up play before the Bobcats were able to score a couple points and get back in the game. After that, the Jumbos maintained control of the game, never leading by less than seven, and getting four kills from rookie MacKenzie Bright in set one to move to the 25-12 win.
Tufts also took an early lead in set two, scoring five points behind the serve of senior co-captain Carolina Berger, and adding four more while senior Kyra Baum was serving to take an early 9-2 lead. The Bobcats put a few points together, and were able to come within three thanks to a kill from Chandler McGrath and a couple of Jumbo errors. But, it was the Jumbos that would win 25-29 in set two.
In set three it was the Bobcat's turn to grab the early lead, scoring five points behind the serve of Claire Naughton and getting two kills from Nicole Peraica to jump out to a 9-2 lead. The Jumbos would attempt a comeback, bringing the score to 11-8 in the visitors favor. But after a timeout, the Bobcats scored five consecutive points, and moved to a 16-9 lead.
The Jumbos staged another comeback, as senior Maddie Kuppe racked up four kills in the comeback and the Jumbos tied things at 21. After an error gave the Jumbos the their first lead of the match, a service error tied things again, and the visitors got a kill from Brynn Wendel and McGrath, and moved to a 25-22 win in set three.
In set four the Jumbos took the early lead, leading 5-1 to start the set. But the Bobcats would not give up and tied things at ten to get back in the game. The match would be tied five times before the Jumbos moved out to a 16-15 lead and didn't look back from there. Though Bates was able to score some points, the Jumbos won the fourth set, 25-18.
Kuppe lead the Jumbos with 15 kills and 22 digs, while Bright finished with ten kills. Junior Katie Kim had eight kills, and classmate Elizabeth Ahrens was a force at the net with eight kills, eight digs, and five blocks. Baum and rookie Angela Yu ran the offense, as Yu finished with 26 assists and Baum tallied 22 on the night. Defensively for the Jumbos, Berger added 21 digs.
For Bates, Peraica finished with 14 kills while McGrath had ten kills and eight digs. Jacqueline Forney took care of the setting, finishing with 19 assists, and Hannah Tardie also turned in nine assists across the four sets. Defensively, Laryssa Schepel finished with 27 digs and Augy Silver added 11 digs of her own. Naughton finished with three blocks.
The Bobcats will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Connecticut College for a 2 pm start. The Jumbos have a busy Homecoming Saturday, taking on Colby at noon, followed by a 5 pm stint with Brandeis to wrap up a busy week in Medford.
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