Box Score AMHERST, Mass. – Junior Mackenzie Bright matched her career-high with 18 kills to help the Tufts volleyball team pull out a 3-2 win over Amherst on the road in LeFrak Gymnasium on Friday night.
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| Angela Yu finished with 17 digs and 29 assists for the Jumbos Friday night |
Tufts improves to 12-4 on the year (6-0 NESCAC). With the setback, Amherst falls to 11-5 on the season and to 2-3 in league play.
The Mammoths jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the first set behind the strength of three service aces, before the Jumbos called a timeout in an attempt to stop the momentum. Unrelenting, Amherst went on to tally two points for ever Jumbo score to set the score at 15-6. Two Cameron Hendricks '20 kills and a kill by Kim-Percy helped move the score to the 20-10 mark, before five unanswered points by Tufts highlighted by a Heather Holtz ace brought the visitors within five at the 20-15 mark. The Mammoths responded with their own 5-0 run to close out the 25-15 set win, with Tufts being charged with four errors and Marialexa Natsis '18 logging a kill.
The second stanza featured highly contested play, with the score being tied on 12 different occasions. Play began taking a turn towards the Jumbos at the 18-18 mark, with a Bright kill and an Amherst attack error giving Tufts a 20-18 lead. The Mammoths traded points with the visitors following a timeout, however two kills, an attack error and an ace directed Tufts to the 25-21 win.
Starting strong, Tufts took a 8-2 edge out of the gate to begin the third, before Amherst went on a run, highlighted by a Emily Kolsky '20 kill, top get within striking distance (10-7). Amherst battled back after being down as many as six points to move the score to 21-20 after a 4-0 run, however two services aces and a kill gave the Jumbos the 25-20 victory.
Amherst strung together runs of three or more unanswered points on three separate occasions in the fourth to earn the 25-21 victory and tie the contest at 2-2 as Kim-Percy and Kolsky led the Mammoths' offensive effort to force a fifth and final set.
Edging out Amherst 15-8 in the match finale, the Jumbos took control at the 3-3 mark, recording seven unanswered points to set the score at 10-3. Natsis posted two kills in an effort to slow the visitors' momentum, however Tufts closed out the game on a 4-3 run to earn the conference win.
Bright led the Jumbos with 18 kills while sophomore Christina Nwankpa added nine kills and six blocks. Sophomore Kelly Klimo tallied 20 digs as junior Angela Yu added 17 and sophomore Brigid Bell had 12. Yu and sophomore Rachel Furash finished with 29 and 18 assists, respectively.
Amherst was led by 15 kills from Kim-Percy and Kolsky added 14 of her own. Hayes Honea turned in 21 digs and Kim-Percy helped with 19. Charlotte Duran took care of the setting for the Mammoths, finishing with 45 assists.
The Jumbos finish off their NESCAC weekend with a trip to Trinity on Saturday for a 1 pm start. Amherst returns to action tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 7 when they host Bowdoin beginning at 1 p.m.
Parts of this recap courtesy of Amherst College
