MEDFORD, MA (November 22, 2025) -- The No. 14 Tufts University volleyball team pushed back and battled against the top-ranked volleyball team in the nation in No. 1 East Texas Baptist University, but the rally would come up just short as ETBU earned a 3-1 win over the Jumbos in the 2025 NCAA Tournament Regional Finals inside Cousens Gymnasium Saturday evening. The Tigers won with scores of 25-16, 25-17, 21-25 and 26-24.
Despite the loss, the Jumbos (24-6) finished the 2025 season with one of the best seasons in program history while earning their fourth New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). Even more so, after falling down two sets to none, the Jumbos showed resiliency, fight and heart to make it a match as they took a set from ETBU in the third. It was the first set that the Tigers had lost since October 4.
Tufts struggled to keep East Texas Baptist (34-0) out of system in the first two sets, as the Tigers hit .250 in the first set and then a whopping .522 in the second to earn a 2-0 match lead. Head coach
Cora Thompson made some adjustments with the lineup and the Jumbos started to get riskier with the serve, and the adjustments paid off. Tufts would start to get the Tigers to have to scramble more, which then in turn got both the block and hitting going for Tufts.
The Jumbos hit .393 in the third set while forcing their visitors into six errors in the set, but still had to work to keep ETBU at an arm's reach down the stretch. Up four at 21-17 in the third, ETBU would continually come right back but Tufts answered each point by the Tigers with one of its own before sophomore
Maiwenn Kamdje powered down a ball on the line to earn the third set for the Jumbos.
The momentum from that set would continue into the fourth, but the Tigers used a 6-2 run midway thought the set to take an 18-14 lead.Tufts would come right back with a 7-3 spurt to tie the set at 21 on an ace by sophomore
Lola Tortorello. Back-to-back kills from Lara Hornsby for the Tigers made it 23-1, but once again the Jumbos pulled back with three straight to have set point at 24-23.
ETBU would not wilt though, as Katherine Server posted a kill and two points later another finish by Hornsby clinched the regional title for ETBU.
Kamdje finished as the team leader in kills Saturday with 11, but she also had a monster game at the net defensively with six assisted blocks.
Akpevwe Akpoigbe had a very efficient night with 10 kills, five blocks and five digs, while
Claire Castor posted nine kills and six digs for the Jumbos.
Sophomore
Ruby Flath came in for relief on the outside and tallied six kills on 12 swings as well.
Rianna Liu finished what was an incredible junior campaign with 22 assists and nine digs, and Tortorello played the final three sets to tally 13 assists and four digs, adding a pair of aces as well. Senior
Julia Griffiths added five kills and and another four blocks to her ledger, as she finishes her career as one of the best blocking middles in program history.
Ball control was key for the Tigers, as ETBU posted a 47-34 edge in digs on the night, led by the great play from Callie Humphrey in the back. Senior Graycee Mosley became the ETBU all-time kills leader Saturday with 16 more finishes, while her teammate Hornsby added 14 terminations as well. McKinzie Riley also hit .471 with 10 kills, and Sydney Temple and Lexi Moody combined for 40 assists.
Tufts saw two players earn All-Tournament Team accolades, as Castor and Kamdje joined Emory University's Emily Robinowitz, Kean's Cayley Elena Morrison and ETBU's Mosley, Hornsby and Anita Hancock. Mosley was the NCAA Regional's Most Outstanding Player. ETBU will now head to the Elite 8 Round at Illinois Wesleyan University in two weekends.
The Jumbos will have to say goodbye to three key seniors in Griffiths,
Emma Norman and
Ella Norris, but return six of seven starters in 2026.
--JUMBOS--
