Another distressing weekend for the volleyball team anchored it to 9-9 on the season, as the squad dropped three out of four matches and nine out of 15 games at the highly competitive Bates Invitational.
Just like the past weekend, the team opened the weekend by winning its first game Friday, topping Saint Joseph's College, 3-0, before losing later in the afternoon to Springfield College, 1-3. The following day, the women lost the fight to Middlebury, 0-3, and then dropped a tough game to MIT, 2-3.
Against Middlebury, the Jumbos could not get anything going, falling in straight games (8-15, 3-15, 8-15).
"We were out of sync," coach Kris Herman-Talon said of the loss to Middlebury. "Serving was average, passing was below average, and communication was almost non-existent. We were making many mistakes. We were not generating offense, so it was an easy game for them."
No Jumbo had more than four kills or two service aces against the Panthers. Jessica Stewart, who leads the team in kills and played well in other matches over the weekend, had just two kills in all three games against Middlebury. Stewart helped the defense with six digs, while senior Kyre Austin had seven.
"There really isn't much to say about the Middlebury game," said junior Sarah Leistikow, who had two kills. "It was not our best game. We weren't playing our game mentally or physically, and it showed. We are working on concentrating on our half of the court and not focusing on factors we can't control."
Against MIT later on Saturday, the team went the full five games for just the second time this season. The Jumbos captured the first game, 15-10, but lost the next two, although not without putting some points on the board (13-15 and 5-15). Although Tufts claimed the fourth game by a score of 15-9, the Engineers would come out on top in a tightly contested final game, prevailing over the Brown and Blue, 15-17.
Stewart led the offense with 19 kills, and aided the defense with 15 digs. Sophomore Paulette Pacheco helmed the defense with 17 digs, and assisted the offense with three service aces.
"Absolutely, no question about it, we should have won," Herman-Talon said. "We got caught up in fear at the end of the match. However, our serving was smarter. We are still finding people to play certain positions, trying to find ways for everyone to play."
"In general, I thought we were consistent," Pacheco said. "We were missing people due to injuries, like Bear [Karen Sillers] for example. It was a very exciting match. They were playing well, and we were reacting and playing well ourselves. I think nerves took over, and we couldn't finish it. Serving was consistent. So there were three different players out there, four injured players, and we just clicked out there. Again, it was nerves that got to us."
Senior Karen Sillers sat out Saturday's matches with a minor injury, but saw some action on Friday, as the team kicked off the tournament with a win over a weaker St. Joseph's squad in three straight games (15-4, 15-7, 15-7). A new trio of front-row hitters, freshman Amy Cronin, Leistikow, and Pacheco led the offense with eight, six, and six kills, respectively. Pacheco also led the team defensively with five digs, tied with Stewart.
"There was no reason that St. Joseph's should have scored significant points against us," Herman-Talon said. "Everybody got a chance to play. There was a different setter for every game, so they were able to gain confidence and experience."
"It wasn't a well-matched game," tri-captain Kyre Austin said. "We dominated them. We served really well, which is what we've been concentrating on in practices. I only played the first game, but Lindsey [Moses] set two out of the three matches and she stepped it up. She got a lot of playing time this weekend, and I'm proud of how she did."
To finish the first day, the squad faced Springfield College, a team Tufts had lost to the previous weekend. The Jumbos fell to Springfield once again on Friday in four sets (11-15, 15-8, 6-15, 6-15). Passing and setting was better against Springfield than in other games, but not enough to lead the team to victory.
The "killer S's" of Stewart and Sillers returned to the top of the stat box during this game, as the two combined for 23 kills. Stewart was on fire, leading the team with three service aces and helping the defense with 12 digs. Junior Megan Pitcavage ran the defense with 18 digs.
"We didn't play them all that well, but we did play better than the last time we faced them," Herman-Talon said. "We should have been leading 2-0, but we gave up big leads. Bear played .370 (attacking percentage), which are good numbers. Serving was okay, but not good enough."
"This match was not our best match," Sillers said. "It was pretty disappointing. Overall, the team's mentality was not together on that match, we didn't step it up. First two matches were good, we got our confidence back, but we just lost momentum after that."
Tufts heads to Wellesley on Thursday night for its next match.
