MIDDLETOWN, CT (November 6, 2022) -- The Tufts University volleyball team, seeded No. 2 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and No. 23 in the AVCA Top 25 Poll, earned its third all-time conference championship Sunday with a 3-1 victory over host and No. 1 seed Wesleyan University in play from Silloway Gymnasium.
The Jumbos (21-5) earn the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament with the victory, which came with scores of 25-23, 25-20, 18-25 and 27-25. Tufts was playing in its 12th title match in NESCAC history, and its title joins the 2019 and 1996 triumphs for the Jumbos.
Wesleyan, ranked No. 13 in the AVCA poll, will now await selection as an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament announced Monday at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Tufts opened the match with a 25-23 set victory to earn a 1-0 match lead, as the game featured eight tie scores and three lead changes. The Jumbos led by as many as four at 19-15, but the host Cardinals (23-3) rallied back to deadlock the set at 22 after an ace by Grace Bell.
Rileigh Farragher hammered down a kill for Tufts to make it 23-22 and then posted another at 24-23 to clinch the set for the Jumbos.
Christine Audette posted five kills on seven attempts in the first set, while
Stephanie Lee finished with six digs as Tufts took the early edge. In the second set and trailing 8-7, Tufts registered a 6-1 run to take the lead for good as
Maya Lightfoot hammered down seven kills in the stanza with
Jennelle Yarwood also contributing four terminations and five digs.
Wesleyan would get back into the match with a victory in the third set, as it hit .229 in the period while holding Tufts to just 12 kills. The fourth set though was as tight as it gets, as Tufts led by as many as four at 15-11 after a finish by Farragher.
The Cardinals rallied back to deadlock the set at 16 and then took the lead at 19-18 on a kill by Kate Long. From that point the two teams would exchange points before Wesleyan edge ahead to 24-22 on a kill by Bella Ahearn. The Jumbos wouldn't give in though, fending off three set points and finished the match on a 3-0 run including the title winning kill by Lightfoot on the right side.
Lightfoot picked a huge match for her career-high, as she finished with 15 terminations on 29 attempts, hitting .379 for the contest. Yarwood also had a strong match for Tufts, as she finished with 13 kills and a team-high 20 digs. It was her fifth double-double of the season, while the 20 digs were a career-high.
Tufts had four players with double-digit kill totals, as Farragher also added 12 kills on 30 swings, and senior
Grace Legris contributed 12 kills on 22 attacks while logging two blocks. Audette was strong with nine kills and nine digs, and Lee had 18 digs and along with 20 serve receptions without an error.
First-year
Zoe Gregory finished with a career-high Sunday as she posted 25 assists, and
Maddie Yu chalked up yet another double-double of 24 assists and 14 digs. The Jumbos totaled a season-high 65 kills for the match, and turned 26 digs into kills including 10 from Yarwood.
Ahearn led the Cardinals offensively with 15 kills while Sophia Lindus also registered 10 kills. Jenna Otaola had a match-high 24 digs, and Grace Dennis posted 34 assists in the loss.
--JUMBOS--
