MIDDLETOWN, CT (November 10, 2023) -- The Tufts University volleyball squad battled hard Friday evening in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) semifinals at Wesleyan University's Silloway Gymnasium, but the Jumbos were topped by No. 6 seed Williams College in straight sets with scores of 25-20, 25-22 and 25-19. With the loss, the Jumbos finish their regular season 14-10 and will await a possible at large berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Tufts held leads in all three sets in the match Friday night, starting with an 11-6 lead in the opening set after a block by
Cora Cunningham. Williams rallied back to take a 16-15 edge, and finished the game on a 5-1 run to earn the early 1-0 match lead after a 25-20 win.
In the second game, the Jumbos held a 16-9 ead after a kill from
Tori Goldin but Williams came back with 10 of the next 11 points to take a 19-17 lead. First-year
Claire Castor stopped the run with a kill, and Tufts tied the set at 19 but the Ephs rattled off five of the next six points to pull away for the win.
In the final set, Tufts was up 9-7 but an 8-1 spurt by Williams pushed it ahead 15-10. Tufts got to within three twice, but Williams was able to fend off the Jumbos to move into the NESCAC Final on Saturday at 3 p.m. against top-seed Wesleyan.
Goldin finished with nine kills and eight digs in what could be her final match as a Jumbo, while Castor also posted nine kills and eight digs in the loss. Senior
Rileigh Farragher added seven terminations, hitting .385 on 13 attempts and
Cora Cunningham tallied four kills on 11 attempts. Senior setter
Maddie Yu tallied 14 assists and seven defensive saves, and
Megan Harrison posted 12 digs and six assists at libero.
Williams got 14 kills from Keely Campuzano to lead the way for the Ephs, who hit .287 (47-14-115) for the contest. Sidra Wohlwend added 20 digs as well for Williams, which held a 57-46 edge in digs on the night.
The announcement of the NCAA Tournament field will come Monday, November 13 at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com.
--JUMBOS--
