Box Score Recap courtesy of Bates College
LEWISTON, Maine - No. 22 nationally ranked Tufts University came from behind to win the first set and went on to a 3-0 defeat of the Bates College volleyball team on Friday night in Alumni Gym, as the visiting Jumbos earned the NESCAC win by set scores of 25-22, 25-21, 25-15.
The win was the seventh in a row for the Jumbos (16-4, 7-2 NESCAC), who will wrap up the regular-season tomorrow at Colby (2 pm). Bates (7-15, 2-7 NESCAC) concludes the 2021 season at home against first-place Bowdoin tomorrow at 2 pm.
In a well-played first set by both sides, Bates led by scores of 11-7, 13-9 and 17-14, and hit at a .256 percentage to Tufts' match-high .333. Tufts used a pair of kills by Cate Desler in a 4-0 run to take its first lead since 7-5 at 18-17, and scored four straight again thanks to three Bates errors and a kill by Maya Lightfoot. Trailing 24-19, Bates made a late run with kills by Julia Neumann and Sydney Phillips, followed by an ace served by Charlotte Morris. But the Jumbos took the 1-0 lead on a kill by Jennifer Ryan.
Bates got out to an 11-8 lead in the second set before a run of seven straight points, with Megan Harrison serving, put Tufts in control with a 15-11 lead. The Tufts run featured kills by four different players. Bates closed the gap to 17-16 with a succession of Tufts errors, but back-to-back kills by Jennelle Yarwood (pictured) and Grace Legris returned the cushion to three points. Lightfoot registered Tufts' 24th point of the set, and a Bates service error advanced the match to a third set with the Jumbos ahead 2-0.
Tufts again overcame an early Bates lead in the third set, going ahead for the first time at 9-8. Bates got kills from Phillips and Cayla Deacon to keep the Bobcats from losing too much momentum, leaving Tufts with its last two-point lead at 14-12. Then five straight Jumbo points, including an ace by Legris, a kill by Desler and a block by Desler and Anna Nachmanoff, opened a 19-12 lead and the Jumbos led comfortably the rest of the way.
Yarwood led the Jumbos with 13 kills, making just three errors in 20 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage. Desler served three aces to go with nine kills and three blocks. Maddie Yu finished with 13 assists and 11 digs.
On the Bates side, Phillips had six kills with one error on 18 swings for a .278 mark. Emma Eide served two aces and assisted 17 points for the Bobcats. Megan Seabury led with 10dogs and Julia Neuma mled with a pair of blocks.
