The women's volleyball ended the season 18-18 after a 2-2 showing at the NESCAC Tournament this past weekend, good for a sixth-place finish in the Conference.
"At this point, I am happy with the overall season," coach Kris Talon said. "We redoubled our efforts as a group at the end of the season and our effort was better. A .500 record is better than last year. We are ranked 12th in New England. One hundred percent of our losses were to teams in the top ten. We had the toughest schedule in New England, but we gave everything we had."
In the last tournament that three Tufts seniors played in, the team strutted its stuff to a .500 weekend. Karen Sillers, who is third on the team in kills, Nancy Phear, and Kyre Austin all donned Jumbo uniforms for the final time, and finished their careers by topping Williams and losing to Wesleyan on the final day of the two-day competition. The squad faced Bowdoin on Friday and walked away with a 3-0 blowout, but fell hard to Amherst, 3-1.
"This past week we really focused and had a great practices," freshman Danielle Cafasso said, "which led to a good weekend at the NESCACs. Our defense and serving were excellent."
Against Williams, which Tufts beat earlier in the season, the team came through in a closely contested match (16-14, 15-9, 11-15, 12-15, 15-13).
"Last time we faced them we lost the first two and then came back to win the last three," Talon said. "However, in this match, we won the first two and then held on to win it in five. This was a huge win because, if we didn't win, we wouldn't have a chance to be .500."
Aiding Cronin on the offense was junior Jess Stewart, who pounded her way to 15 kills while serving five aces and digging 19 times.
"Jess probably had the best match of the weekend," Talon said. "Kyre [Austin] served very well and improved her consistency." Austin served five aces, while setting and hammering five kills of her own.
Prior to topping Williams, Tufts lost a tough fight with Wesleyan, which it had lost to in five games earlier in the season. Each game went to double digits, as the Cardinals held on to win 14-16, 11-15, 15-10, 14-16. The "Killer S's" (Stewart and senior Karen Sillers) were off their mark during this game, slamming 19 kills, but making nine attacking errors, which resulted in a combined attack average of .141.
"[Wesleyan] improved," Talon said. "Especially their middle offense. If we had beat Williams in three liked we wanted to, we might have been less tired and played better. We went outside more and served well."
The Jumbos began the NESCAC Tourney with an easy win against Bowdoin, their second such win on the season (15-2, 15-9, and 15-9).
"[Bowdoin] is weak," Talon said. "They don't have weapons like we have. The starters played in the first game and we beat them 15-2. Then our back-ups, who are very good players themselves, played the rest of the match. Amy and Kyre stayed in there... Our back-ups are better than Bowdoin's starters." Austin served two service aces and crushed two kills into the floor, while Megan Pitcavage had ten digs and two kills on the match.
The first day ended with a loss to Amherst, which is ranked number two in the conference, in four games. The squad stayed close in the first two matches, never losing by more than three points (15-13, 15-12); however, it was able to pull a win off in the third game, 15-9. But the Brown and Blue lost the fight in the fourth game, 15-9. Cronin led the day with 16 kills, an attacking average of .433, one service ace, and two blocks. Despite Stewart having ten kills on the day, she balanced it with ten attacking errors, leaving her with an attacking percentage of .000. She made up for the mediocre offense with 16 digs and two service aces.
"We were playing defense, serving, and passing," Talon said. "We played much better, but our offense didn't get it done... Amy played one of the best, if not the best, match of her season... Offensively, we made too many errors. We were in a position to win because we worked so hard on defense and serve receive. We just didn't get it done."
The team is already looking forward to building on this season's experience.
"We need to improve our consistency," Talon said. "We need to be tougher mentally and win more close games. It is hard to say goodbye to any player, especially this year's seniors. 'Bear' (Sillers) was a two-year captain who played most of the time. Kyre was a three-year starter. Nancy [Phear] was a big part of the defense this year and improved a lot over her career.... But I am excited to see that we will basically have the same team as this year, next year."
