SCRANTON, PA (September 5, 2026) -- The No. 13 Tufts University volleyball team battled two strong teams to open the 2026 season Saturday aftenroon at the Royals Invitational at the University of Scranton, but the Jumbos were bested in both matches in five sets to both No. 3 Berry College and Scranton. Tufts fell 25-20, 16-25, 25-18, 17-25, 15-11 in the opening match of the day to Berry, before falling to the host Royals 19-25, 25-23, 21-25, 27-25 and 15-11.
Match 1: No. 3 Berry 3, No. 13 Tufts 2
The Jumbos (0-1) showed plenty of fight throughout the two-hour, 16-minute match, answering Berry's early advantages with a pair of strong set victories to force a deciding fifth. Tufts twice battled back from a one-set deficit, taking the second and fourth sets in convincing fashion before Berry edged the Jumbos in the final frame.
Maiwenn Kamdje led the Tufts attack with 13 kills while hitting .286 for the match, adding two blocks for a team-high 14 points.
Akpevwe Akpoigbe contributed eight kills while hitting a team-best .438, while
Tessa Fergusson added five kills on 16 attacks with just one error for a .250 hitting percentage.
Emma Heckman and
Claire Castor each finished with five and four kills, respectively.
Rianna Liu orchestrated the Tufts offense with 22 assists, while Ellery Clark added 12 assists. Dylan Whisenant paced the defensive effort with 15 digs, with Castor and Heckman each recording 11.
Berry (1-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead by taking the opening set, 25-20. The Vikings built an early advantage and led by as many as seven points late in the frame, but Tufts refused to go quietly. Trailing 22-16, the Jumbos rattled off four straight points behind kills from Akpoigbe and Fergusson and a kill by Celina Savage to pull within 22-20. Berry, however, scored the final three points to take the set.
Tufts responded emphatically in the second. After Berry raced to a 5-0 lead, the Jumbos gradually chipped away at the deficit. Emma Heckman sparked a four-point run with three consecutive service aces, and Tufts eventually turned a 14-12 deficit into a 16-14 advantage. From there, the Jumbos took control, scoring nine of the final 11 points to claim the set, 25-16. Akpoigbe was particularly effective in the second set, recording three kills on four attacks without an error, while Kamdje added two kills and Castor contributed two. Tufts hit an impressive .500 as a team in the frame, committing just one attack error on 14 attempts. Berry regained the lead in the third set, taking a 25-18 decision. The Vikings opened the frame with a 3-0 lead, but Tufts answered with four straight points to move in front, 4-3. Berry responded with a 6-1 run and later stretched its advantage to 17-9.
The Jumbos continued to battle late. Tufts pulled within 23-18 following a strong serving sequence from Clark that included two aces and helped fuel a five-point run. Berry ultimately closed out the set, however, to take a 2-1 match advantage.
The Jumbos opened the fourth set with a 3-0 advantage and maintained the lead throughout the frame. After Berry pulled even at 4-4, Tufts steadily rebuilt its advantage behind kills from Kamdje and Akpoigbe and strong play at the net. With the Jumbos leading 11-10, Tufts put together its most decisive run of the afternoon. Akpoigbe helped ignite a 9-1 stretch that pushed the Tufts lead to 20-11. During the run, she recorded two service aces and forced Berry into a pair of attack errors, while Savage and Kamdje also contributed kills. Berry could not recover, as Tufts closed out the set, 25-17, to force a fifth set.
The decisive fifth set was tightly contested early, but Berry gained separation with a 5-0 run that turned a 1-1 tie into a 6-1 advantage. Tufts continued to battle, with Kamdje delivering three kills in the early stages of the set and Clark providing a service ace to help bring the Jumbos within 8-5. Berry eventually extended its lead to 13-8, but Tufts again refused to surrender. The Jumbos scored three consecutive points to cut the deficit to 13-11, including a kill from Castor and a Berry ball-handling error. Berry called timeout with Tufts threatening, and the Vikings answered with the final two points to secure the 15-11 fifth-set victory and the 3-2 match win.
Tufts finished the afternoon with 41 kills and 38 assists while hitting .140 as a team. The Jumbos also recorded 11 service aces and eight total blocks. Berry finished with 41 kills, 35 assists, 13 aces and seven blocks.
Match 2: Scranton 3, No. 13 Tufts 2
The Tufts University volleyball team battled host University of Scranton through five competitive sets Saturday afternoon, ultimately falling to the Royals, 3-2, at the John Long Center. The Jumbos, who opened the day with a five-set battle against No. 3 Berry College, showed tremendous fight in their second match of the day. Tufts held a 2-1 lead after three sets, but Scranton rallied to take the fourth set in extra points before earning the deciding fifth set.
Emma Heckman paced the Jumbos with 15 kills in the second match of the afternoon, while Hazel Nelson had 11 kills including hitting a stellar .474 for the match. Maiwenn Kamdje connected on 10 kills as well with Akpevwe Akpoigbe and Destiny Francis each having six apiece.
Defensively, Claire Castor tallied 14 digs, Heckman tallied six digs and Becca DePencier Piñero finished with nine digs as well. Ellery Clark led Tufts with 32 assists, adding seven digs, while Lola Tortorella had 11 helpers and six digs.
Tufts controlled action in the first and third sets, hitting over .350 in each set while posting just seven errors and 31 kills in the two sets. In the fourth set, Tufts led 23-21 but the Royals rallied with four straight points to earn set point. Francis helped Tufts fight off a set point with a kill, and the Jumbos fought off two more set points before Scranton got a kill by Kasia Burda to even the match at a pair of sets apiece.
In the fifth, Scarnton (2-0) and Tufts were deadlocked at 10 but the Royal registered three straight points before adding two more at 13-11 to claim the win.
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Tufts takes on Ithaca College Sunday in the finale at Scranton at 1:30 p.m. at the John Long Center.
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