MIDDLETOWN, CT (September 27, 2025) -- The Tufts University volleyball team pushed its win streak up to 10 matches Saturday with its biggest win of the season, knocking off No. 6 Johns Hopkins University in non-conference action from Silloway Gymnasium on the campus of Wesleyan University.
Tufts won with scores of 19-25, 25-18, 25-21 and 25-23.
The win was the first victory over a ranked opponent for the Jumbos since defeated No. 6 Trinity University of Texas back on September 8, 2023. With the victory, Tufts has now won 10 matches in a row for the first time since the 2019 season, when Tufts posted a pair of 10-win stretches including starting the season 18-0.
Tufts is now 2-0 all-time against Hopkins (12-3), also knocking off JHU back in 2021 to advance to the NCAA Elite 8 round.
The Jumbos did a great job on Saturday in forcing mistakes by the Blue Jays, as JHU hit just .102 on the season including 30 hitting errors. Johns Hopkins also had 15 service errors.
After a first-set win by the Blue Jays where the Jumbos struggled offensively, Tufts responded by hammering down 13 kills while hitting .310 in the second frame to even the match at a set apiece. Sophomore
Maiwenn Kamdje had four kills on seven attempts in the set to lead the Jumbos. Tufts also had five blocks in the set.
In the third set, JHU led 14-10 midway through the set but Tufts rallied to take the lead at 18-17. With the set deadlocked at 19, Tufts went on a 6-2 run to close out the set capped by a kill from junior
Emma Heckman. Six service errors hurt the Blue Jays in the third set.
The fourth set was the most competitive of the set with 13 tie scores and 10 lead changes. Tufts Took its largest lead of five at 18-13 after an ace by sophomore
Lola Tortorello, but Hopkins rallied back to tie the set at 19 on an ace by Jocelyn Pye.
JHU finished its five-point run up 21-19, but Tufts pushed back to regain its lead at 22-21. After two points by the Blue Jays pushed them back in front 23-22, senior
Emma Norman started a three-point stretch to finish the win for Tufts as junior
Bridget Lonergan powered down back-to-back kills to clinch it.
Junior
Claire Castor had a team-high nine kills for Tufts, posting six digs and a perfect 13-for-13 in serve receive. Lonergan hit .312 for the match, posting seven terminations on 16 attempts, while tallying five blocks as well.
Norman and Heckman each had five kills in the win for Tufts, and Kamdje recorded eight kills and four blocks.
Matsa Shi had a team-best 11 digs, and junior
Rianna Liu had 20 assists and eight digs. Tortorello led all players with four aces while contributing 12 assists as well.
Tufts hit .125 in the win (39-24-120).
Simone Adam had 11 kills to lead the match in kills, while Michela De Marzi had 10 terminations as well for JHU.
The Jumbos have six days off before hosting Williams College October 3 at 7 p.m. in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action in Cousens Gymnasium.
--JUMBOS--
