MEDFORD, MA (November 1, 2024) -- The Tufts University volleyball team finished its 2024 regular season campaign Friday with another emphatic win inside Cousens Gymnasium, knocking off Wesleyan University 25-16, 25-16 and 25-13 to clinch the No. 3 seed in the upcoming New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Tournament next week.
The Jumbos (13-10, 7-3 NESCAC), who have now won four of their last five matches, will host a NESCAC Quarterfinal match next Saturday, November 9 at 3 p.m. in Cousens Gymnasium against an opponent to be determined.
Tufts came out of the gates with a ton of fire in the opening set, using that juice throughout the match. In the first set, the two teams traded leads early before Tufts used a 5-0 run to take a 18-11 lead powered by two kills from sophomore right side
Emma Heckman. Heckman and fellow right side
Maiwenn Kamdje were firing on all cylinders in the opening set, as Kamdje tallied Tufts' 24th point before a block gave the Jumbos the set and the match lead.
Heckman posted five kills in the opening frame on just eight attempts, while Kamdje and graduate student
Christine Audette tallied three kills apiece.
Rianna Liu also had eight assists in the frame.
In the second, Tufts hit a match-best .306 in the frame as Heckman and Kamdje combined for eight kills and
Claire Castor had three kills and three aces in the stanza. Tufts led by as much as 10 in the period after a Castor ace at 23-13, getting kills from Audette and Heckman to clinch the set.
The third set saw Wesleyan (12-10, 6-3 NESCAC) battle back as the two teams exchanged the lead five times in the set. Wesleyan took a 17-13 lead on a kill by Sophie Corbeil, and the Cardinals had a three-point lead late at 23-20 after another kill by Corbeil. The Jumbos would settle in as
Ella Norris posted two service aces down the stretch, and first-year
Keller Mobley started and ended the run with kills including one to clinch the match at 25-23.
Heckman had one of her best matches of the season, as the sophomore swung at a .444 rate on 27 attacks to tally a match-high 13 kills. Heckman also had four blocks, and Kamdje hit .500 with 10 kills on 16 attempts. Sophomore
Akpevwe Akpoigbe had six kills on nine swings, adding two blocks, and
Julia Griffiths also had five assisted rejections. Mobley came off the bench in the third set to hit 1.000, putting away all four of her attempts while posting a block as well.
Liu had 21 assists and eight digs in addition to her one service ace, and Norris had a match-high four aces as well as 14 assists and seven digs. First-year
Matsa Shi had 13 digs and five assists, and Audette added five kills and six digs in the win.
Tufts hit .278 for the match, moving to 9-0 on the season when hitting over .200 for a match. Tufts was stellar on its first attempt of rallies, hitting .419 on first-ball attacks while also erring just twice in 43 chances.
Michelle Jorba had a team-high seven kills for the Cardinals, while Ali Landa had 19 assists and four kills in the loss.
The NESCAC schedule will finish on Saturday afternoon, with final NESCAC Tournament pairs being announced late Saturday afternoon.
--JUMBOS--
