MIDDLETOWN, CT (November 4, 2022) -- Senior middle
Grace Legris hammered down 13 kills and the Tufts University volleyball team hit .312 as a squad, rolling past No. 7 seed Trinity College (CT) 3-0 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) quarterfinals.
Tufts earned the win with scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 25-17, and will now take on the winner of Middlebury College and Williams College Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Silloway Gymnasium on the campus of Wesleyan College in the NESCAC semifinals.
The Jumbos (19-5) were able to lean on their strong offensive attack on Friday evening, hammering down 46 kills while holding Trinity to only 29 terminations for the match. In the opening set, the teams traded the lead six times before Tufts took the advantage at 19-18 with a kill from
Cora Cunningham. Tufts would go on a 6-0 run thanks to timely serving from
Megan Harrison to earn the first set 25-19.
Tufts fell behind 2-0 in the second stanza, but rallied with a 9-1 run to take a 9-3 lead after an attacking error by the Bantams (9-14). The Jumbos' lead would swell up to as much as seven at 21-14, breezing to the 2-0 match lead after hitting .323 in the set including 14 kills.
In the third set, Legris exploded for eight kills on 11 swings as the Jumbos posted 20 terminations in the set to earn the sweep. Legris hit .545 for the match, needing only 22 attempts to get to her match-high kill total.
Maya Lightfoot and
Christine Audette each added eight kills, and
Stephanie Lee posted a match-best 23 digs in the win.
The transition game was strong for Tufts, much in part to the setting pair of
Maddie Yu and
Zoe Gregory. Yu finished with 25 assists while Gregory added 15 helpers and four digs. Tufts hit .415 in transition on Friday night, posting 19 kills on 41 attempts on the first ball off a dig.
Eva Legovic led the way for Trinity, posting nine kills while Lola Craig chalked up seven terminations as well in the loss. Top-seed Wesleyan University knocked off Colby College in the other 5:00 p.m. quarterfinal, and will battle the winner of Bowdoin College and Amherst College Saturday at 1 p.m. in Silloway Gymnasium.
--JUMBOS--
