Volleyball Splits at New England Challenge Saturday

CAMBRIDGE, MA (September 22, 2022) -- No. 25 Tufts University earned a split against a pair of ranked foes on Saturday afternoon at the New England Challenge, knocking off No. 23 Babson College in three sets before falling to host No. 19 Massachusetts Institute of Technology in straight sets in action from Rockwell Cage. Tufts finished tied for third due to a sets won tiebreaker on the weekend in the New England Challenge with Williams College, while Rileigh Farragher earned All-Tournament Team for her play. 

Match 1: No. 25 Tufts 3, No. 23 Babson 0
The Tufts squad used the momentum of Friday's Senior Night victory to knock off the Beavers of Babson in three sets with scores of 25-19, 25-13 and 25-16. The Jumbos controlled the match from start to finish Saturday morning, as it led or was tied for all but two points for the entire contest. The offense was once again humming for Tufts, as it hit .250 for the match while posting 38 kills on the afternoon. 

Christine Audette finished with 10 kills and a hitting mark of .364, adding three blocks and three digs in the win, while Zoe Gregory dished out 17 assists as well. Senior libero Stephanie Lee totaled 20 digs in the win, while Farragher totaled seven terminations. Grace Legris chalked up five total blocks to lead the group, as Jennelle Yarwood also added six kills and four digs. 

Emma Norman came on to chalk up four kills in six attacks, and Maddie Yu dished out 15 assists in the win. 

Babson (19-5) was led by six kills from Martina Jankovic Chin, while Jordan Lapins added 10 digs as well in the loss. 

Match 2: No. 19 MIT 3, No. 24 Tufts 0
The host Engineers (20-5) hit a scorching .343 for the match, as three hitters chalked up double-digit kill totals in the win for the hosts. Lauren Keller finished with 12 kills to pace all hitters, while Consecrata Rozario posted 11 terminations en route to Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Lilly Edwards also picked up 10 kills in the win, and Emily Cheng handed out 35 assists to pace MIT. 

The Jumbos fell behind two sets to none but came out in the third and led for the majority of the early part of the set, including taking a 9-5 lead on a kill from Emma Norman. MIT battled back to take the lead at 12-11, but the Jumbos tallied back-to-points to regain a 13-12 edge. The Engineers took control from that point with six straight points, leading the rest of the way in the sweep. It was only the second 3-0 loss this year for the Jumbos. 

Audette finished with seven kills and four digs for the Jumbos, while Yarwood, Legris and Farragher all had six kills as well. Lee picked up 13 digs for Tufts, while Zoe Gregory handed out 15 assists in addition to tacking on eight digs. 

Below is the full All-Tournament Team: 
Lauren Griffin, Babson
Riley Donahue, Springfield
Celia Adams, Williams
Rileigh Farragher, Tufts
Lucy Ambach, Middlebury
Katie Kraczkowsky, Middlebury
Lauren Keller, MIT
 
Tournament MVP: Consecrata Rozario, MIT

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The Jumbos will return to action Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. against Brandeis College in Cousens Gymnasium in non-conference play.