Wellesley Volleyball Tops Endicott, Falls to Tufts at MIT Invitational

CAMBRIDGE, Maine -- Wellesley College volleyball split a pair of matches on Saturday at the MIT Invitational at Rockwell Cage. The Blue earned a 3-2 win over Endicott College in the team's opening match before dropping a 3-1 decision to Tufts University later in the afternoon. Wellesley is now 5-3 overall.

Wellesley 3, Endicott 2 (25-27, 25-14, 25-22, 16-25, 15-11)

Wellesley hit .278 with 71 kills as outside hitters Lauren Gedney (Huntersville, N.C.), Nicole Doerges (San Marino, Calif.) and Nikki Jensen (Castro Valley, Calif.) combined for 58 kills in a five-set win over Endicott. 

Gedney totaled a match-high 21 kills, while Doerges had 19 kills and 21 digs and Jensen had 18 kills and 12 digs for the Blue. Sophomore setter Izzy Seebold (Concord, N.C.) finished with a career-high 60 assists and notched her fourth double-double of the season with 11 digs. Senior Meghan Shoop (Cypress, Calif.) and sophomore Lizzy Jessen (Burbank, Calif.) added 17 and 10 digs, respectively. 

Sophomore Colleen McAvoy (Coventry, Conn.) finished with 13 kills to lead the Gulls. Junior Nicole Winkler (Southborough, Mass.) added 12 kills, while senior Remi Quesnelle (Sunderland, Mass.) finished with 10 kills and nine digs. Senior Mackenzie Kennedy (Andover, Mass.) tied for match-high honors with 21 digs and classmate Zoey Gifford (Natick, Mass. ) paced the Endicott attack with 44 assists and 10 digs. 

Endicott outlasted the Blue, 27-25, to take the opening set, only to see Wellesley rally back to win the next two, 25-14 and 25-23, to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Gulls extended the match to a fifth set with a 25-16 win in the fourth. The Blue responded by rallying for a 15-11 victory to win the match in five. 

Tufts 3, Wellesley 1 (25-18, 26-24, 21-25, 25-9)

Sophomore Cate Desler (Hillsborough, Calif.) hit .429 with 17 kills and eight digs as Tufts improved to 7-0 on the season and 3-0 in the tournament with a 3-1 victory over the Blue.

Senior Maddie Stewart (Menlo Park, Calif.) added 11 kills and classmate Brigid Bell (Granite Bay, Calif.) tallied 10 kills for the Jumbos, who hit a combined .295 in the match. First year Stephanie Lee (San Francisco, Calif. ) added a team-high 10 digs, while senior setter Rachel Furash (Westlake Village, Calif.) had 36 assists and eight digs. 

Gedney added 12 more kills but the Blue offense failed to gain momentum until the third set of the match, hitting just .118 against Tufts. Jensen had eight kills and Doerges added seven more kills, while Seebold tallied 32 assists in the setback. Shoop finished with a team-high 11 digs in the back row.

The Jumbos opened with a 25-18 win in the first set before holding off a late Wellesley push at the end of the second frame to win the set, 27-25, and take a 2-0 lead. Wellesley hit .400 in a bounce back third set, defeating Tufts 25-21 to extend the match. Tufts closed things out with dominant 25-9 effort in the fourth set.

Wellesley will open New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play in the team's next match at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, September 17, at Emerson. 

2019 MIT Invitational

All-Tournament Team

• Sophia Pahl, Bowdoin
• Colleen McAvoy, Endicott
• Andie Maloney, MIT
• Stephanie Lee, Tufts
• Brigid Bell, Tufts
• Elizabeth Cameron, Babson
• Tournament MVP: Maddie Malee, Babson 

Final Standings

1. Babson (3-0 overall record; 9-1 sets won-lost)
2. Tufts (3-0 overall record; 9-2 sets won-lost; +35 point differential)
3. MIT (3-0 overall record; 9-2 sets won-lost; +43 point differential)
4. Endicott (1-2 overall record; 6-6 sets won-lost)
5. Bowdoin (1-2 overall record; head-to-head win over Wellesley)
6. Wellesley (1-2 overall record; head-to-head loss to Bowdoin)
7. Tie - RIT (0-3 overall record; 1-9 sets won-lost)/SUNY Geneseo (0-3 overall record; 1-9 sets won-lost)

Saturday, September 14, 2019

• MIT def. Geneseo, 3-1 (27-29, 26-24, 25-19, 25-19)
• Tufts def. RIT, 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-17
• Wellesley def. Endicott, 3-2 (25-27, 25-14, 25-22, 16-25, 15-11)
• No. 20 Babson def. Bowdoin, 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-19)
• Endicott def. Geneseo, 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 26-24)
• No. 20 Babson def. RIT, 3-1 (25-21, 27-25, 22-25, 25-9) 
• MIT def. Bowdoin, 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-18)
• Tufts def. Wellesley, 3-1 (25-18, 26-24, 21-25, 25-9) 

Friday, September 13, 2019