Volleyball Falls to Tufts, 3-1, to Open New England Challenge

MEDFORD, Mass. -- Wellesley College volleyball suffered a 3-1 ((25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-14) non-conference setback to host Tufts University on Friday evening at Cousens Gym on day one of the 2015 New England Challenge. The Jumbos improved to 16-4 (6-2 NESCAC) on the season as the Blue dropped to 12-12 (5-3 NEWMAC) with the result. 

Tufts senior Maddie Kuppe (Palo Alto, Calif.) had a team-high nine kills, while junior Elizabeth Ahrens (Richmond, Va.) added eight and classmate Mary Maccabee (River Edge, N.J.) contributed six kills. Senior Kyra Baum (Boca Raton, Fla.) and first year Angela Yu (Austin, Texas) combined for 34 assists, as the duo helped lead a Tufts attack that saw ten different players record a kill on the evening. On defense, senior Carolina Berger had a team-high 11 digs, with Yu also adding ten.  

Wellesley first year Yasmine Reece (New Rochelle, N.Y.) led all players with 14 kills in the match, topping the double-digit plateau for the 18th time this year. Junior Brooke Fieldman (Greenwood Village, Colo.) was the only player in the match to record a double-double, hammering down 11 kills to go along with 14 digs. Sophomore Katie Yan (Cohoes, N.Y.) and first year Samantha Hoang (Elk Grove, Calif.) contributed 17 and 15 digs, respectively, while first year Michelle Li (Scarsdale, N.Y.) led all players with a match-best 34 assists. 

A tight first set yielded a 14-10 Tufts advantage before the Blue closed the gap to 14-13 on three consecutive kills from first year Elise Griffin (Los Altos Hills, Calif.), Reece and Yan. However, the Blue were unable to get past the Jumbos, as a one-point deficit was as close as Wellesley would get for the remainder of the frame. The Jumbos eventually jumped to leads of 22-16 and 24-18 before closing out a 25-21 set win. 

Wellesley fought back in the second set, opening up an 8-4 lead, following a kill from Fieldman. Tufts countered with three of the next four points, to make the score 9-7, before Wellesley went on a 5-0 run to take control of the set at 14-7. The seven-point lead would be the Blue's largest of the set, but Tufts would get no closer than four, at 19-15, before Wellesley took the 25-20 win to even the match. 

Tufts took control of the match after the second set, putting the Blue away with a 25-20 win in the third and and 25-13 win in the fourth. The Blue briefly tied the third set twice, at 1-1 and 7-7, but Tufts held the lead for the majority of the frame, taking leads of 15-9 and 20-15, before earning the 25-20 win. The Jumbos followed with a commanding 25-13 win in the fourth and final set of the evening, breaking an early 7-7 tie to go on to take a 20-11 lead en route to the set win and 3-1 match win.  

The 2015 New England Challenge continues tomorrow, as each team will play a pair of matches at MIT. Wellesley will battle Williams at 11:00 AM and Middlebury at 3:00 PM. Tufts will play the host Engineers at 11:00 AM and Babson at 3:00 PM.