BRISTOL, RI (September 11, 2024) -- The Tufts University volleyball squad was dominant in the opening two sets, shaking off a third-set loss to defeat host Roger Williams 3-1 Wednesday evening in action from Paolino Recreation Center.
Tufts won in four sets with scores of 25-17, 25-9, 23-25 and 25-11. It was Tufts' first true road win of the season, moving to 3-2 on the campaign.
The Jumbos controlled action in the first, second and fourth sets on Wednesday, hitting .270 for the match while collecting 54 kills. Tufts hit .323 in the opening set, upping that mark to .379 in the second frame and then .483 in the fourth and final stanza.
In the first set, Tufts led from start to finish as
Claire Castor totaled four kills on six attempts to lead the Jumbos. Tufts also tallied a side-out percentage of 82 percent in the first stanza. The second set played out much like the first, as the Jumbos (3-2) scored 11 of the first 13 points in the set to take control. The lead would swell up to as much as 16 on the final point of the frame, an ace by first-year
Matsa Shi.
The Hawks (5-2) battled back to take the third set, but Tufts nearly shook off a late five-point deficit at 24-19 before a kill from Angela West secured the set victory for the hosts.
In the fourth the Jumbos regained total control, hammering down 16 kills on just 29 attempts while posting a 21-11 dig edge in the frame to earn the victory.
Castor finished with a team-high 12 kills while hitting .158 for the match. Sophomore classmate
Emma Heckman hit .310 for the match including a whopping .545 on first-ball attacks, chalking up 11 kills on 29 attempts.
Julia Griffiths was also very efficient on the night, tallying seven terminations on 11 swings, hitting .636 for the match. Griffiths also had six total blocks.
Sophomore
Akpevwe Akpoigbe needed just eight attempts to tally six kills, and
Alina Qi tallied four kills as well in the middle. Sophomore setter
Rianna Liu recorded a career-high 31 assists to go with 10 digs Wednesday, and
Ella Norris dished out 15 assists along with six digs.
Shi had her best day as a collegiate, as the first-year libero tallied 13 digs, matched by graduate student
Christine Audette. Castor led the Jumbos with 14 digs, while first-year libero
Dylan Whisenant also recorded seven digs. The Jumbos had 79 digs on the evening, a season-high and the most in a four-set match for Tufts since knocking off Brandeis on October 26, 2022 with 92 defensive stops.
Roger Williams got eight kills from Brianna Picchietti, and Marianna Hernandez finished with 27 digs to pace all players.
Tufts will have a day off Thursday before being back in action Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. with the first of three weekend matches in Cousens Gymnasium for the Boston Invitational. Tufts will battle Christopher Newport University Friday, before taking on Whittier College at 11 a.m. and No. 17 Calvin University at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
--JUMBOS--
