Box Score MEDFORD – In the NESCAC season opener for the Tufts volleyball team, both the Jumbos and the Bates Bobcats battled in all three sets but the Jumbos came away with the 3-0 win. Tufts was led by 16 kills from junior Mackenzie Bright.
The match was the conference opener for both teams. The Jumbos are now 4-1 overall and 1-0 in NESCAC play and the Bobcats are 3-3 overall with a 0-1 conference mark.
The Jumbos jumped out to a big lead early in the first set, up by eight, 16-8, about half way through. But the Bobcats made a huge comeback. Down 18-11 the Bobcats scored four points behind the serve of Augy Silver. After a point by the Jumbos the Bobcats answered with three points behind Ruby Lightbourn to come within two. After a Jumbo point again the visitors tied it at 20 and then took a two point lead, 22-20. With things locked at 23 the Jumbos got two kills from Bright and one from sophomore Rachel Furash to take a 25-23 win in the first set.
The visitors were the ones that took an early lead in the second set. The Jumbos tied things at seven and the two teams traded points for a bit. With things locked at 14 the Jumbos scored four points behind the serve of Furash to take the lead. But, once again the Bobcats came back and locked the score at 20. Thanks to some Bobcat errors and a kill from Bright the Jumbos managed a 25-22 win in set two.
In the third set things were pretty even for most of the set as the two teams were tied at multiple points. The two teams would need extra points to decide a winner, as with things locked at 25 the Jumbos got a kill from senior captain Alex Garrett and a kill from sophomore Heather Holz sealed the 3-0 win for the Jumbos.
The Bobcats were led by 11 kills from Taylor Stafford-Smith and Ruby Lightbourn added eight of her own. Defensively Gabi Eustache finished with 23 digs and Staffford-Smith added nine of her own. Jacqueline Forney took care of the setting for the Bobcats and finished the evening with 30 assists.
For the Jumbos Bright had a season-high 16 kills and Holz and Bell both added eight to the offensive efforts. Bell finished the evening with a .538 hitting percentage. Sophomore Kelly Klimo finished with 16 digs and junior Angely Yu added 13 of her own. Yu and Furash ran the offense and finished with 21 and 22 assists, respectively.
Bates will play again on Saturday when they travel to Bowdoin for a 1 pm start. The Jumbos host Colby for a 1 pm start on Saturday.
