MEDFORD, MA (October 23, 2026) -- The Tufts University volleyball team snapped a two-match losing skid with a thrilling comeback on Senior Night Friday evening, rallying from down two sets to none against Springfield College for a five-set home win over the Pride in the first match of the 2026 New England Challenge in non-conference play. Tufts ended up knocking off Springfield 21-25, 19-25, 25-17, 25-12, 15-9.
Springfield took the first two sets. In set one, Tufts trailed 11-5 and called timeout, then answered with a 7-1 stretch to tie it at 12-12. The Jumbos led 17-16, but Springfield scored five straight points, including two service aces from Karenna Allain, and held on for a 25-21 win. Tufts hit just .152 in the set.
Set two followed a similar pattern. Tufts fell behind 16-12 and pulled within 20-18 late, but Springfield closed it out 25-19 while Tufts hit .025 with nine attacking errors.
Tufts turned the match around in the third set. With the score tied at 10-10, the Jumbos ripped off six straight points, with Castor serving an ace and the stretch capped by a Springfield attack error, to take a 16-10 lead. Celina Savage came off the bench to put down five kills in the set, hitting .444. Tufts hit .400 with only two errors on 35 swings and won 25-17.
The fourth set was one-sided. After a 3-3 tie early, Tufts took the lead for good and pulled away to 9-4, 17-8 and 21-10. Tufts hit .458 while Springfield hit -.105 with six errors. Liu closed the set with a service ace for a 25-12 win.
Tufts never trailed in the fifth set. The Jumbos raced to a 6-3 lead, and a Liu ace made it 7-3. Tufts built a 12-5 advantage, and after Springfield cut it to 12-8, the Jumbos got the final points they needed. Castor had three kills in the set, including the match-winner at 15-9.
The Jumbos got a match-high 15 terminations from Castor, as she added 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Junior Maiwenn Kamdje added 12 kills on 36 swings Friday evening, and Tessa Fergusson tacked on eight kills on 17 attempts.
Senior Emma Heckman had eight kills on 21 attacks, hitting .286, and Savage was great in her three sets with seven finishes on 15 attacks. Liu recorded 17 assists, nine digs and three aces, and junior Ellery Clark led the team with 22 assists and nine defensive saves. Senior Becca DePencier Piñero recorded 10 digs as well along with five assists, and fellow libero Dylan Whisenant had six digs.
Tufts finished the match with an offensive clip of .240, posting 61 kills to just the 37 from Springfield.
For Springfield, Ahunna James had 11.0 points (9 kills), Jodi Saelua had 7 kills and 4 block assists, and Alexa Bonato had 7 kills. Tori Colosimo had 26 assists and Allain had 32 receptions, 11 digs and 4 aces.
Tufts takes on No. 25 Babson College Saturday at 11 a.m. along with host No. 7 MIT at the Rockwell Cage in Cambridge, MA in the second day of action of the New England Challenge.
--JUMBOS--
