HARTFORD, CT (October 11, 2024) -- Down a set twice on Friday night at Trinity College, the Tufts University volleyball twice rallied to take a five-set victory over the Bantams in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play from Ray Oosting Gymnasium.
The Jumbos rallied to win with scores of 22-25, 25-15, 21-25, 27-25 and 15-8. The victory was Tufts 14th straight win over the Bantams, dating back to 2012, but it was the first time since 2011 it took the Jumbos five sets to get the victory.
The opening set was close throughout, but Trinity gained a three-point lead midway through the stanza and was able to hold their lead the rest of the game to take a 1-0 lead. In the frame,
Claire Castor had four kills and five digs, while
Christine Audette added six digs.
The second set was all Jumbos, hitting .308 while posting a side-out percentage of 81 percent to deadlock the match a set apiece. Castor posted three aces and five digs in the second set, while first-year
Ruby Flath tallied three terminations on four attempts.
After Trinity regained its set edge with a 25-21 win in the third, Tufts once again had to claw back into the match. In the fourth, Tufts led 24-22 late but Trinity recorded three straight points to set up a match point at 25-24. Tufts evened the set at 25 on a kill by Castor, and clinched the stanza with another Castor termination for the 27-25 win. Castor paced Tufts in the fourth with five kills, and
Akpevwe Akpoigbe also had four kills.
In the decisive fifth set, Tufts recorded no hitting errors while finishing seven of its 20 attempts, hitting .350 in the period to power it to the win. The Jumbos were up 7-1 through the first eight points and clinched the win on another Flath kill, her career-best 11th kill of the evening.
Castor led the Jumbos with 14 total kills Friday evening, hitting .235 in 34 attempts, adding 16 digs and a career-high seven aces. The seven aces in a match are the most for a Tufts player since Angela Yu posted seven against MIT on October 20, 2017.
Flath tallied the 11 kills on 25 attempts, hitting .400 on the night, and classmate
Celina Savage had a career-high as well with seven kills on 19 attempts. Sophomore setter
Rianna Liu recorded another double-doubles with 11 digs and 22 assists, and Audette also ended with 10 digs. First-year
Matsa Shi registered 15 digs at libero, and
Ellery Clark had four digs and 20 assists.
Junior
Julia Griffiths recorded five kills in the middle,
Alina Qi had four kills and three blocks and Akpoigbe came off the bench to post six kills on nine swings, all in the final two sets. Sophomore
Emma Heckman also had six kills in the victory, as Tufts tallied 54 kills on 172 attempts.
Trinity was paced by the 16 kills from Ellie Gordon, and Eva Lekovic added 11 kills for the Bantams.
The Jumbos will return to action on Saturday, October 12 at 2 p.m., taking on Connecticut College in New London, CT in more NESCAC play.
--JUMBOS--
