Volleyball
The men's club volleyball team went a respectable 2-1 in the second divisional tournament held this past Sunday at MIT. Suffering a frustrating loss to host MIT, the team later defeated Boston College (BC) and Eastern Nazerene College (ENC)."We lost two pretty close games against MIT," Captain Adam Goldfarb said. "We were all very disappointed."
Looking to redeem their pre-season loss to MIT, the Jumbos, stricken with net violations, lost the match in two games, 25-22 and 25-20.
"We were slow starting and we weren't playing good defense," Goldfarb said. "Things were just not coming together and we were making stupid mistakes, including eight net violations in one game."
In the second match, the squad went on to defeat BC. The first game was extremely close, with Tufts emerging victorious 29-27. BC took the second game 25-18, while the Jumbos clinched the match by winning the final game 15-11, thanks to superior play from sophomore Mike Lutz.
"The last game was really exciting," Goldfarb said. "Mike [Lutz] served five unanswered points in a row."
In the final match, the team beat ENC in three games. Tufts took the first and third games while ENC won the second.
"[The ENC match] was long, drawn out, and unexciting," Goldfarb said. "We played poorly. It was a win but it was ugly."
After this weekend's matches, the team holds a solid 6-1 record for the season and is ranked second in the NECVL (New England Collegiate Volleyball League), with MIT controlling the number-one spot.
"The team as a whole played solidly this weekend and our teamwork was good," Goldfarb said.
For now, the team has its sights on a rematch against top ranked MIT which will be held this Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Chase gym here at Tufts.
Fencing
The men's club fencing team placed third overall this past Saturday at the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference Championships held at Smith College in North Hampton, Massachusetts.The team went 8-2 on the day, beating two NCAA varsity teams, BC and Brown, in direct competition. One of the squad's two losses in direct competition came against a varsity team from Vassar College that Tufts beat in the overall standings. The MIT team, which came in second overall, was responsible for the other Tufts' loss.
"We did pretty well," sophomore Aaron Donovan said.
"During the regular season, we were dropping a few matches here and there that we shouldn't have," senior captain Chris Greller added. "But at New England's, everything really came together."
"It was a big accomplishment to beat those varsity teams. They are highly funded and are invited to NCAA meets. It shows that with limited funding we can still perform at the varsity level."
In addition to a solid performance in competition, the Jumbos won the honor of "best club team" for the third year in a row. The Tufts team also won best saber squad in New England. The ep?©e squad finished in a three-way tie for third in the ep?©e rankings, while the young foil squad made some important contributions, especially in clinching the wins against BC and Brown.
"It was an amazing meet. We all did really well," said Greller. "The ep?©e team lost a couple of tough bouts but all in all everyone gave 100 percent."
In the individual competition, Greller finished second in men's saber, while senior Mark Starchman and sophomore Matt Durgavich finished eighth and ninth, respectively. Senior epeeist Phil Kietel, who won the New England fall tournament in November, just missed qualifying for the individual finals this time. Sophomores Vinny Miccal and Videem Timoshpolsky fenced solidly for the foil squad.
"Foil was our weaker weapon this year," Donovan said. "[The foilists] worked hard and stepped it up at the end leading to key victories for the team."
"Vinny did very well," added Greller. "He had some great bouts where everyone was watching."
The team's success has come from superior coaching by Elif Saches. She has worked hard with the men's team and has turned many inexperienced athletes into great fencers.
"Most of our team hadn't fenced before college, whereas much of the competition has fenced before and were recruited to fence in college," Greller said.
For now, the fencing team is happy with its solid season, and it looks forward to an even better season next year.
