MEDFORD, Mass. (September 30, 2022) -- The No. 23 Tufts University volleyball team hammered down 51 kills Friday night, using the offensive firepower to knock off Middlebury College in three sets in the 2022 home opener for the Jumbos. Tufts defeated the Panthers with scores of 25-16, 25-22 and 25-18 in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action from Cousens Gymnasium.
The 51 kills in a three-set match was a season high for the Jumbos (7-3, 2-1 NESCAC), as the contest marked the most terminations in a three-set affair for Tufts since powering down 56 last year on October 15 in a sweep of Amherst College. The attack started early on for the Jumbos, as Tufts collected nine of the matches' first 10 points highlighted by three kills apiece from Jannelle Yarwood and
Grace Legris.
Middlebury (6-5, 1-3 NESCAC) rallied back to trim the Tufts edge to three at 11-8 on a kill from Lucy Ambach, but the host Jumbos slowly extended their advantage back up to as much as eight at 22-14 on another termination from Yarwood. Sophomore
Cora Cunningham posted a kill, followed by an ace from
Zoe Gregory and an assisted block from Cunningham and
Tori Goldin to clinch the set for Tufts. Yarwood led the way in set one with four kills, while
Christine Audette added three terminations and five digs.
In the second set, Tufts took the lead at 3-2 and held the edge the rest of the set thanks to an 8-1 run that ended with the hosts up 9-3 after another Gregory service ace. Late in the stanza, Middlebury started to creep back into the game with a 5-0 run to make it 24-22 but
Maya Lightfoot finished off the set with a kill to put the Jumbos up a pair of sets. Yarwood once again was the offensive stalwart in the set, posting five kills on nine swings.
The third game was the tightest of all three, as it featured eight tie scores and two lead changes. Despite that, Tufts posted a match-best 21 kills in the stanza while adding the best side-out percentage of the match at 77 percent (14-18) to finish off the Panthers in straight sets.
Yarwood led all players on the night with 13 kills, while also passing perfectly on 12 reception attempts. Audette posted a double-double of 10 kills and 15 digs, a season-high for the junior. Senior
Stephanie Lee added a team-best 19 digs for the Jumbos, while
Maddie Yu contributed her fourth double-double of the year with 23 assists and 10 digs.
Goldin finished with eight kills for the night, and junior Riley Farragher came off the bench to hammer down seven kills on 16 attempts in just one set of action. Gregory also tallied 14 helpers in addition to her team-high two aces for the Jumbos, who hit .250 (51-17-136) for the match.
Katie Kraczkowsky led the Panthers with eight kills on the night, while Ambach added seven kills as well for Middlebury.
The Jumbos will be right back in action Saturday afternoon, hosting Hamilton College (6-3, 1-2 NESCAC) at 1 p.m. in Cousens Gymnasium, while Middlebury will will take on Endicott College Saturday in non-conference play.
--JUMBOS--
