Jumbos searching for consistency

After the over two hour drive to New London, CT, the ride home must have felt like four hours for a dejected Jumbo team that was outplayed by the Cardinals of Wesleyan on Tuesday. It took Wesleyan just three sets to dispose of Tufts. On the Cardinals senior night, the home team's intensity simply overmatched Tufts.

Coach Cora Thompson was disappointed by the Jumbo effort. "We had a lot of great moments, but we couldn't string them together," Thompson said. "That's been our problem the whole year and we talked about that after the game. While the other team is able to go on streaks, we just are not getting streaks together in return. But I know we can do it."

A month and a day after Tufts' 3-0 domination of the same Wesleyan team, there was no question about Tufts' talent level _ consistency has been the most substantial problem. One needs only to look to the third Wesleyan-Tufts match that was played just a week before the Tufts victory. In that game, Wesleyan again handily defeated the Jumbos in three straight sets.

The weekend before the Wesleyan matchup, the Jumbos had mixed results at the Hall of Fame Classic, played in Springfield, MA and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. The tournament was the last in which the Jumbos will play before the NESCAC Championships at Williams College on Nov. 8.

Tufts' first game on Friday was against the home team, Springfield, which was ranked seventh in the region, compared to Tufts ranking of 11th. As it turned out, the game did not live up to its billing, as the Jumbos came out flat against a very talented Pride squad. Tufts was defeated in three straight games, as only Junior Amy Cronin was able to total double digits in kills, with ten. Freshman April Gerry led the team in digs with ten.

Later that night, the Jumbos took the court against a familiar opponent, NESCAC rival Bowdoin. Having beaten Bowdoin convincingly in their previous two matches this season, Coach Thompson took the opportunity to experiment with lineup changes, and Tufts still managed to win the match 3-1.

Sophomore Rebecca Shaevitz split the setting duties with the Jumbos' usual setter, Moses. On three more attempts, Shaevitz totaled 16 assists to Moses' 15. Cronin led the team in kills, with 11, while freshman Courtney Evans had ten. Junior Pauline Eveillard and freshman Jamie Golden also saw action in the game.

Pacheco, the shortest player on the team, at 5'5", also saw limited time as the middle blocker up front.

However, her contributions as a bumper on the back line will most likely prevent her from seeing many more serves from that close to the net. Pacheco, the most reliable backline player on the team, led the team with 13 digs. Junior Danielle Cafasso added ten digs in the effort.

The next day, at Mout Holyoke, Tufts recorded its most impressive win of the weekend, beating a Bates team to which it had lost 3-1 at Colby College earlier in the year. For the team, the 3-0 victory meant more than just a regular victory win.

"We had something to prove when we played Bates," Cronin said. "They knocked us out of the NESCAC tournament last year and when we lost to them this year we never played to our potential. They are a one-woman team with the hardest hitter in NESCACs, Liz Wanless, and our game plan was to shut her down. We owned her in three games... she swings hard, which means that when we blocked her it went down just as hard on their side of the net."

Indeed the Jumbos did have a good game up front, totaling ten solo blocks. The backcourt also played well, with Cafasso scoring 14 digs and senior Paulette Pacheco and freshman April Gerry scoring 11 digs each.

Tufts' final game was a disappointing loss to Brandeis, a team they had beaten twice before, most recently last Tuesday. The Jumbos started off slow, a problem they have faced through much of the year. Brandeis destroyed a lethargic Tufts unit 30-19 in the first set, and found itself with a 2-0 lead after winning the second set, 30-28. The Jumbos heard the wake up call, and they responded by winning the next two sets in dramatic fashion, 31-29 and 30-27 respectively. But the comeback was put to a heartbreaking halt, as the Tufts squad was unable to win the fifth and deciding set. Instead Brandeis went home with a 15-13 win in the fifth set and the victory.

"We just beat ourselves," junior Lindsey Moses said.

Junior Amy Cronin had an impressive game, leading the Jumbos in both kills and digs, with 17 and 22 respectively. Three other Jumbos had more than ten kills, including junior Danielle Cafasso, who achieved a season high of 25 digs.

The Jumbos be seen in action in Cousens Gym tonight at 7 pm. This will be the team's last tune-up before the NESCAC Championships, where Tufts will play Amherst in the first round.