After losing a tough five-game match against Springfield College in the second round of the 2003 MIT Invitational Tournament, the Jumbos were hungry for revenge.
Facing the same team in the second round of this year's tournament, tied 2-2 in the match, some of the upperclassmen got a little excited.
"They're tired. We're tired. They want it. We want it more. Push hard. This is our house. This is our house," junior Courtney Evans told the team as they waited on the bench for the fifth and deciding game of the match.
The Jumbos eventually lost that fifth game 15-12, snapping their seven-game win streak and postponing plans for revenge for another year. Overall the Jumbos went 2-2, finishing seventh in the tournament.
"[Finishing] seventh isn't exactly satisfying," senior co-captain Alison Sauer said. "Obviously, you always want to be number one. We did not play our best game against Wellesley, and that dropped us to playing for seventh or eighth."
Despite the result, the team was pleased that it played well at times when different lineups were on the court.
"I think as a team we grew a lot this weekend," freshman Stephanie Viola said. "We threw people in there at different positions. Everything worked out, and we played well."
The team was forced to mix up the lineup due to the rigors of four games in two days and a back injury to freshman setter Megan Tunstill. Senior Rebecca Shaevitz filled in for Tunstill, freshman Kay Lutostanski played outside hitter and senior co-captain Emily Macy played a game at libero.
"We have been preparing [Lutostanski] all season, putting her in a lot of different positions," coach Cora Thompson said. "For a freshman, she did a great job. She came in there swinging away."
The team started sluggishly against Springfield, ranked No. 23 in the country, falling behind 18-10. Starting with a spike by Evans, the Jumbos then went on a 16-6 run, taking a 26-24 lead in the match.
They could not hold onto this lead as the Pride rallied to win the opening game 30-28.
The Jumbos squandered another late lead in game two, watching the pride turn a 19-15 Jumbo lead into a 30-24 Springfield victory.
In the third game, the Jumbos grabbed a 19-13 lead, but once again the team watched the lead wither away, as the Pride pulled within one point at 19-18. At this point, Thompson called a timeout, threw down her clipboard and tried to fire up her team.
"Whenever she calls a timeout, she knows exactly what she has to say. We hear it and we listen," Viola said.
The team responded immediately to the timeout, scoring five straight points and winning the game 30-22. The momentum of this game carried over into the fourth game as the Jumbos evened the match with a 30-24 win.
After a block by Evans and sophomore Kelli Harrison to even the fifth game at 11, Springfield scored four times to Tufts' one to win the game 15-12.
Evans led the team with 18 kills and six blocks. She was aided by Harrison's 17 kills and 18 digs.
"We were in the exact same situation last year against them, losing to them in five in a 16-14 game," Sauer said. "Also, they are a nationally-ranked team. Beating them would've been great for us. However, we played our hearts out and we played our best match of the year."
The Jumbos started the tournament with a victory over Smith College. The 3-0 win gave the Jumbos five 3-0 wins in a row.
Tunstill recorded 42 assists as Harrison and Sauer earned nine and eight kills, respectively. On defense, Sauer and Macy had 19 digs each.
After losing to Springfield, the Jumbos headed to the third round of the tournament, hosted at MIT, to play Wellesley College.
The Jumbos won the first game of the match 30-27, but then lost three in a row (30-24, 30-21 and 30-28), dropping the match and forcing the team to play for seventh place against Skidmore College.
Harrison earned 10 kills and also recorded 12 digs as the Jumbos fell 3-1.
"Welleley's a great team, but when you're playing a team like Springfield and that game didn't end until about 11:30 p.m., it's hard to get up at 8:30 a.m. and have that same kind of energy," Thompson said.
The Jumbos came together in the final match of the tournament, defeating Skidmore 3-0.
Schaevitz dished out 48 assists in the three games, while Harrison recorded 15 kills. Lutostanski earned a career high 12 kills in the match.
Harrison notched 51 kills and 54 digs over the course of the tournament.
The Jumbos will host the Tufts Invitational this Friday and Saturday at Cousens Gym. They open play with a 4:30 p.m. match against Babson College. Once again, the players will face the rigors of playing four games in two days.
"It'll be a very, very tough weekend again for us," Thompson said. "The key to it will be when we're playing teams we should beat. We need to beat them with authority. We need to win three games so we can rest our legs."
