MEDFORD, MA (September 14, 2024) -- The Tufts University women's volleyball team battled hard Saturday afternoon through adversity, but it wasn't enough as the Jumbos fell to visiting Whittier College in three sets before falling to No. 17 Calvin University in four in action from the 2024 Boston Invitational inside Cousens Gymnasium.
Tufts fell to Whittier 25-18, 28-26 and 25-22 before being outlasting by Calvin 33-31, 23-25, 25-14 and 25-22. For her efforts though, first-year
Maiwenn Kamdje was named as the Tufts representative on the 2024 Boston Invitaitonal All-Tournament Team.
Match 1: Whittier 3, Tufts 0
In the opening match of Saturday's slate, visiting Whittier College was consistent offensively while Tufts was unable to get things going outside despite scoring more points than the Poets. Tufts earned more points with 53 to just 46 from the Poets, but 23 hitting errors by the Jumbos was the difference.
Kamdje was Tufts' leading hitter in the first match of the afternoon, as she tallied 12 kills along with blocking two attempts on the other side of the ball. Sophomore
Emma Heckman hit well with nine kills in 21 attempts, chalking up a .381 clip, while
Alina Qi hit .583 with seven terminations in 13 attempts.
Junior
Julia Griffiths tallied five kills and three assists blocks, and
Claire Castor had 14 digs and four kills in the loss.
Rianna Liu had 17 assists and two aces, while
Ella Norris also tallied 19 assists. Graduate student
Christine Audette had nine digs as well.
Tufts hit .171 for the match.
Malena The paced Whittier with 13 kills, while Riley DeGroot also tacked on 11 terminations in the win.
Match 2: Calvin 3, Tufts 1
Playing shorthanded for the second match, Tufts showed some battle and grit against a very strong Calvin squad especially in the opening stanza.
In the first set, both teams refused to go away as the stanza featured 10 lead changes and 23 tie scores. Tufts had to fight off eight set points down the stretch, but the Knights would finally take the opening marathon set 33-31 on a block by Aarin Baker and Jasmine Namminga.
The Jumbos bounced back in the second set to deadlock the match at two, as Kamdje finished with five kills on seven attempts while first-year
Dylan Whisenant had eight digs in the period. Tufts trailed 17-16 in the frame, but a dump kill by Liu started a 5-2 run to put the Jumbos back ahead for good as a Griffiths' kill sealed the set win.
In the third, Calvin controlled the set from the beginning scoring the first 10 points as Tufts posted just four terminations in the set. The Jumbos fought in the fourth set, charging back from a 19-14 deficit to tie the match at 19 on a block by
Emma Norman. Calvin scored the next four points and used that momentum to secure the win.
Kamdje finished with 12 kills on 24 swings, hitting .375, also posing four digs and three blocks. Heckman recorded 10 digs to go with her eight kills while Audette had eight kills and 11 digs.
Liu booked 20 assists and eight digs, and Whisenant posted a new career-high of 16 digs.
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Tufts (3-5) is off for six days before opening New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play against Hamilton College (3-4) Friday, September 20 inside Cousens Gymnasium.
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