Volleyball gears up for big NESAC weekend

In the final weekend of the regular season, the volleyball team will face three conference competitors in its final NESCAC round-robin.

Currently, the Jumbos sit in fifth place in the conference with a 5-2 record, 19-8 overall. Following this weekend will be the start of the NESCAC quarterfinal championships.

For Tufts, the question of post-season play is not an "if" but a "how." The Jumbos have clinched a spot in the quarterfinals, where, along with seven other teams, they will battle it out for the right to move on to the NCAA tournament. Even if the team loses all three of this weekend's games, and eighth place Middlebury (2-5) wins all of its games giving them equivalent records of 5-5, the Jumbos would still receive the favorable seeding due to Tufts' win over Middlebury during the regular season.

This is great news for the Jumbos because it means that the lowest they could place is seventh, pitting them against the number two conference team in the quarterfinals.

However, a seventh place playoff seed is not an adequate result to cap what has, for the most part, been a tremendous season for the Jumbos. Coach Cora Thompson knew this was going to be a big season for this team, starting with its victory over Wellesley in the first weeks of play. Up until that match, Tufts had not beaten Wellesley in ten years.

And the team's success continued, despite injuries, as it proved its depth and talent with wins over five NESCAC teams as well as tough non-conference competitors, such as number four in the region Brandeis.

"We are in a great position right now," Thompson said. "However we don't want to be satisfied with that. We want to keep in mind our goals and play the best we can play."

One of those goals is amassing 21 regular season wins. In 2002, the volleyball team finished with a final record of 20-13, before its playoff push was cut short by Amherst in the quarterfinals.

As an arbitrary challenge for this year's squad, the Jumbos are going for 21 wins -- the most in at least four years. Sitting only two shy of the mark, this feat is a distinct possibility despite the purposeful toughening of this season's schedule.

"It is good to have a number; it does help to drive the team. We made 21 wins a target goal," Thompson said.

Standing in the way for Tufts will be three teams that have only improved over the course of this season, making it the most difficult NESCAC weekend the team has faced.

"We have a great chance to beat all of the teams this weekend," Thompson said. "But we have to get up for it and really lay it all out on the court."

First up will be Bowdoin on Friday night. Bowdoin currently holds a 3-5 NESCAC record, putting it in seventh place. However, the Polar Bears' scrappy defense is exactly what it takes to snatch a win out of the hands of an overconfident team. Also, Bowdoin is fighting to ensure a post-season spot, so it has the extra incentive to come into the match fired up.

Saturday will bring a day of rematches -- first Bates and then Colby. Bates currently holds the second best record in the NESCAC (7-1). Tufts, however, dominated Bates 3-1 in the Bates Invitational earlier this month, and the Jumbos will be looking to repeat this result in an official NESCAC game.

Colby was a different story. The Jumbos were unable to put the White Mules away in a 3-2 loss at the MIT Tournament held at the end of September. Fatigue was a contributing factor in the loss as this was the sixth match of that week for the team. Avenging the loss in a game that would count towards the record is a goal for the squad.

However, if the Jumbos want to come out of this weekend successful, they will have to step up their level of play and regain the intensity of earlier in the year. End of the season fatigue has been a real problem for the squad and has most recently resulted in last weekend's mediocre 2-2 performance at the Hall of Fame Tournament.

In order to prepare, the Jumbos will be working on defense and serving in practice this week, as well as fine-tuning blocking, which was not as strong as it could have been last weekend. As for the defense, whether or not the back line is on and playing together will be the deciding factor in the upcoming contests.

Despite the fact that the outcome of this tournament will determine rankings for the playoffs, the mindset of the team is to take this weekend for what it is -- three games against three NESCAC teams.

"To be honest, [playoff ranking] is the furthest thing from my mind," Thompson said. "I just want us to play the best we can play in an opportunity that will be a good preview for the playoffs."