Volleyball team struggles through weekend

Once again, it was a weekend of ups and downs for the women's volleyball team as it competed in the annual Hall of Fame Tournament at Mount Holyoke.

The squad's final record of 2-2, which placed it in the middle of the pack, reflected its inconsistent play throughout the weekend. The Jumbos finished tenth out of the 16 teams that made an appearance, and now hold a 19-8 record moving into the last week of regular season play.

Tournament play began on Friday night with a confidence-shaking 3-1 loss to Smith College. In its previous meeting with Smith at the end of September, Tufts was on the other end of a 3-1 match. Though Smith has now had a month to improve and gel as a team, coach Cora Thompson had predicted before the weekend that the Jumbos would have no trouble dispatching this opponent.

However, continuing its struggle with intensity and control, Tufts had a wakeup call beginning with the close first game, which it lost 30-27. In the second game, the Jumbos were again unable to bring things together and fell 0-2 in the match with a 24-30 loss. It was not until the third game that the Jumbos got their feet underneath them and made a statement with a 30-25 win. By that point unfortunately, it was too late to make a run for the match victory, as the Jumbos gave the final win to Smith in game four, 30-24.

"They played better than they had earlier in the season, but still we could have beat them," junior right side hitter Alison Sauer said. "I don't really know why it didn't come together for us."

With the loss, the Jumbos were unable to get into Saturday's winners pool for a rematch with MIT, who handed Tufts a loss in its first game of the season. Instead, the Jumbos went on to rematch Gordon on Friday night and Wheaton on Saturday. Tufts was able to regroup after the Smith loss and came out strong in the first game against Gordon with a 30-10 win.

"In our first game against Gordon, we came out with a ton of fire," Sauer said, "That is what we lacked overall this weekend. There was no pep in our step."

The Jumbos were able to ride the momentum of the first game blow out to go on to defeat Gordon 3-1 (30-26, 18-30, 30-26). On Saturday, the squad continued to control the momentum with a no-contest 3-0 victory over Wheaton College (30-23, 30-18, 30-20).

In their final competition for the weekend, the Jumbos were unable to put away Wellesley for what would have been the second time this season. In early September, Tufts sent out a message to New England volleyball with a decisive 3-1 victory over Wellesley. Saturday, the Jumbos were unable to find that same magic in a loss that was pushed to the fifth game (31-33, 30-27, 13-30, 30-27, 9-15).

"We had our ups and downs," Sauer said. "We did come together at certain points, but we let games get away from us that we should have won at other points. Overall, we should have done better."

According to the latest New England Women's Volleyball Association regional poll, which was released on Oct. 22, Tufts ranked eighth among the fifteen schools to make the list. Entering the rankings at number one was none other than conference powerhouse Williams, boasting an undefeated record in regional play. The Ephs sit atop the NESCAC standings followed in second by Amherst -- the only other NESCAC team ranked above the Jumbos. In fact, despite having only the fifth best record in the conference, Tufts was awarded the third highest rank out of the six NESCAC teams that were included in the poll.

"At this point in the season, we know how to play volleyball," Sauer said. "It is just a matter of getting that fire back that we had in the beginning of the season. If we want it, we will win."