MEDFORD, MA (September 3, 2024) -- The Tufts University women's volleyball team got contributions from the entire roster, getting stronger as the match went on as the Jumbos earned a 3-0 victory over WPI in the 2024 season opener inside Cousens Gymnasium Tuesday evening.
The Jumbos (1-0) picked up the win with scores of 25-16, 25-20 and 25-14. The win also was Tufts' 10th straight victory in a season starter, dating back to 2014.
Tufts showed well across the board Tuesday night, but the service game and attacking at the net was the difference as the Jumbos posted a 64-28 edge in total points while also chalking up 14 service aces in the win. The ace total was the most in a single match for the Jumbos since Tufts knocked off NCAA defending champion Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Regional Final in 2021 when they tallied 14 as well.
The hosts got things going well in the opening set, as sophomore right side
Emma Heckman picked up where she left off in 2023 with four kills on six swings to pace the Jumbos. She was just one of six players in the set with multiple terminations, as sophomore setter
Rianna Liu and junior handler
Ella Norris combined for 13 assists in the frame. Tufts also was clean in the serve receive game, while adding 15 digs and two blocks.
In the second set, Tufts' offense was strong as it erred just once on 26 attempts. getting six more kills from Heckman while Liu finished with three aces, six assists and two digs to help the Jumbos in the second set victory. The set was close through the middle points, but an 8-3 run made it 19-13 capped by a kill from sophomore
Claire Castor. WPI (1-2) battled back to make it 21-19, but Tufts rattled off four of the final five points to double its lead.
In the third set, Tufts controlled things from the get-go as it allowed just four kills in the period and first-years
Keller Mobley and
Maiwenn Kamdje provided the offense with seven combined kills to help secure the victory.
Tufts hit a stellar .306 for the night, holding a 44-24 edge in kills, led by the 11 from Heckman. The sophomore standout needed just 13 attempts for her tally, hitting .769, adding four assisted blocks.
Castor finished with eight kills on 16 attempts, posting four digs as well, and junior middle
Julia Griffiths finished with five kills and three assisted blocks. Senior
Alina Qi tallied four terminations and two blocks, while Kamdje finished all four of her attempts while assisted on a block as well.
Defensively, first-year
Dylan Whisenant was strong with eight digs, four assists and four aces, while Liu recorded 22 assists, four aces and three digs. Norris added 14 helpers, five digs and two aces as well.
Anastasia Kelnik led the Engineers with seven kills, and Lily Eldridge totaled 16 assists and two digs as well.
The Jumbos will now pack up and head to St. Louis this weekend, competing in the prestigious East-West Classic at Washington University of St. Louis. Tufts will take on Colorado College Friday at 7 p.m. before tackling No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and the host Bears Saturday afternoon starting at 1:30 p.m. local time.
--JUMBOS--
