Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN - Senior Maddie Kuppe dominated offensively with 23 kills and just two errors in 48 attempts for a .438 hitting percentage as the Tufts Volleyball team won 3-1 at Williams College on Friday night.
The match was the conference opener for both teams. The Jumbos (4-2, 1-0 NESCAC) defeated a top 25 team for the second Friday in a row. Last week they knocked off #12 at the time Eastern University in three games. Williams was #21 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The Jumbos are receiving votes in the rankings.
The Ephs, who received 10 kills and 18 digs from Ally Ostrow, fell to 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference. Williams was playing its home opener at Chandler Gymnasium.
This was a rematch of last year's NESCAC Championship match won by Williams in a dramatic fifth set. Tonight, the Jumbos would not be denied finishing with a .257 hitting percentage and 10 blocks compared to .120 and four for Williams.
Tufts took the match with a resounding 25-14 fourth set. They had gone extra to win the first set 27-25, lost the second 25-18 and won the third 25-22.
The first set was a back-and-forth affair with Williams jumping out to a 7-2 lead. Tufts fought back to even the score at 13 and then built a 17-13 lead behind back-to-back kills from senior outside hitter Esme Nulan. The Ephs battled back to tie things at 18 and had a chance to win with Ostrow serving up 25-24, but Nulan executed a powerful kill to tie things up. Angela Yu put the Jumbos up 26-25 with a kill before the Jumbos closed out the set.
After Williams tied the match at one set apiece, the two teams continued taking the lead back from one another for the first portion of the third set. An ace from Eph junior Catie Bennell tied things at 14, but back-to-back kills from Tufts' MacKenzie Bright and Elizabeth Ahrens gave the visitors a 17-16 lead. A Tori Jasuta smash allowed Williams to tie the set at 18-all, but a Bright kill gave the edge back to Tufts. The Jumbos led 22-20 when Katie Kim and McKenzie Humann combined for a critical block that made it 23-20. It was 23-22 when the Jumbos called a timeout to regroup and win the following two points on Eph errors to take a 2-1 set lead.
Tufts outscored Williams 18-8 over the final 26 points to roll to the fourth-set and match victory.
Kuppe added two aces to her tremendous offensive numbers while also recording six digs and a block with three assists. Humann backed her up with eight kills and no errors on 12 attempts (.667) while adding a block and four assists. Bright totaled 11 kills.
Senior Kyra Baum paced the offense with 30 assists while sophomore Alex Garrett led on defense with 15 digs. Twelve Jumbos had digs overall in a team defensive effort.
Anna Spellman led the Ephs with 11 kills while Katherine Lane had a good hitting night with 10 kills. Ryan Farley's 30 assists set the offense and she led the hosts with 11 digs.
The Jumbos travel over to Amherst for another tough NESCAC contest tomorrow at 2 pm. Williams hosts Connecticut College at 2 pm Saturday.
Portions of this release courtesy of Williams College
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