MEDFORD, MA (October 30, 2024) -- The Tufts University volleyball team continued its strong play over the last week of action, as the Jumbos rolled past visiting Endicott College for a three-game sweep with scores of 26-24, 25-20 and 25-14 inside Cousens Gymnasium.
The Jumbos have now won three of their last four matches, with the one loss coming in a competitive 3-1 match to No. 4 ranked and undefeated MIT on Saturday. Tufts got the offense rolling early on Wednesday night and kept it humming all night, hitting .257 for the match as five players posted five or more terminations on the evening. The hitting percentage was the third-best of the season for the Jumbos, who have now gone 8-0 on the season when hitting above .200 for a match.
In the opening frame, both teams had runs but Tufts had three set points at 24-21 before the Gulls (17-6) rallied to tie the set at 24 on a kill by Hadley Helenbrook to force a timeout. The stoppage was well-timed by head coach
Cora Thompson, as her squad responded with back-to-back points to take the first stanza, 25-24. Sophomore right side
Emma Heckman finished with five kills on eight swings in the first game, while
Ella Norris had six assists and an ace.
The Gulls took an early 1-0 lead but that would be final edge they would have for the set as Tufts took the lead at 4-3 and led by as much as six late in the frame on a kill by
Claire Castor to make it 24-18. Three points later, junior middle Julia Griffths hammered down a kill from Norris to clinch the second set and a 2-0 match advantage. Endicott got six second-set kills from Helenbrook, but the balanced offense of Tufts generated 16 total terminations.
The third set was all Jumbos, as they forced nine hitting errors by the Gulls while hitting .385 in the stanza to pull away for the victory. Tufts tallied a side out percentage in the third set of 80 percent, getting the serve back from Endicott on 12-of-15 opportunities.
Overall, Heckman led the charge for Tufts with 10 kills on 25 swings, hitting .280 for the match as she went over 400 kills for her young career. Griffiths was fantastic on Wednesday, hitting .429 on 14 attempts to finish with eight kills and seven total blocks. First-year
Maiwenn Kamdje powered down eight kills on 15 attempts, also stuffing five Endicott attempts. Sophomore
Claire Castor had seven kills and 10 digs, and graduate student
Christine Audette added six terminations and six digs in the win.
Liu added another double-double to her ledger with 12 assists and 15 digs, and Norris recorded 14 assists and five digs. First-year libero
Matsa Shi finished with 13 digs and a career-high eight assists.
Tufts posted 43 kills on 113 attempts at the net, and posted a 9-3 edge in blocks defensively.
The Gulls were led by the match-high 14 kills from Helenbrook, as she also tallied 10 digs. Hannah McGuire finished with a double-double of 26 assists and 12 digs, and libero Emma Ruel tallied nine digs on the night. Tufts has know won three of the last four meetings with Endicott and eight of the last 11 in the series.
The Jumbos will finish their 2024 regular season on Friday evening at 7 p.m., hosting Wesleyan University in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play.
--JUMBOS--
