After cruising past Bowdoin and hanging on against Amherst, the Tufts volleyball team came up short of its first NESCAC Championship since 1996, losing to Williams in the final match and likely ending its season.
Williams defeated the Jumbos 3-0, clinching its fourth NESCAC title in a row. The Ephs, who have appeared in nine of the last 11 NESCAC championship matches, will now represent the NESCAC in the NCAA Tournament.
"I'm disappointed, but also extremely proud of the team," coach Cora Thompson said. "Disappointment's just a fraction of the emotion I'm feeling."
The loss to Williams marked the third in as many weeks for the Jumbos. Williams had defeated Tufts 3-0 in the Hall of Fame Classic Final, and 3-0 last weekend in the final game of the NESCAC regular season.
The 28-6 Jumbos started Sunday's match hanging in with the 31-3 Ephs, as the first game was at one point deadlocked in a 12-12 tie.
The Ephs took the first game 30-18, though, powered by an 8-1 run. Williams then carried its momentum into the second game taking a 16-7 lead.
While the Jumbos fought back to close the Williams lead to three at 18-15, Williams went on to a 30-22 victory. They closed out the match with a 30-16 win.
The loss forced Tufts to pin their hopes of continuing their season on the chance that they might receive an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA divides the country up into eight regions and awards a bid to one team in four of these regions.
According to Thompson, it is very likely that no New England team will receive the bid.
After the tournament, she said she was "99 percent sure" that the season was over.
Her players will not give up hope though, as the tournament selection was not announced as of press time.
"I think [an at-large berth] is definitely a possibility," freshman Stephanie Viola said. "I've heard it's difficult to get one, but based on our season and our competition, I think it's a good possibility."
Despite the fact that the Jumbos likely ended their season with the loss to Williams, they were happy with their play.
"I think this weekend was incredible," Thompson said. "We played with the most heart of any team there. Every player had a 'refuse to lose' attitude. Every player had a championship in their sights."
Earlier in the weekend, the Jumbos defeated the Amherst Lord Jeffs to advance to the final. Tufts seemed on its way to an easy victory as the team claimed the first two games 30-24 and 30-20.
After winning the third game 30-21, Amherst came back from a 15-13 deficit to win 30-23 and force a fifth game.
Coming back from a two-game deficit is almost standard procedure in Tufts-Amherst matches as the Jeffs came back from a 2-0 hole to eliminate the Jumbos in last year's NESCAC Tournament.
Tufts would not let Amherst repeat the feat this year, though, as the Jumbos finally wrapped up the match in the fifth game.
After the Jeffs took a 10-6 lead in the deciding game of this weekend's match, it appeared that the team who started 0-2 would win once again. However, the Jumbos never lost confidence.
"I never even doubted for a second that we were going to win that," Thompson said. "It was just a matter of how and when."
In an effort to refocus her team, Thompson called a timeout. During the timeout, the coach told the team not to focus on overcoming the deficit all at once, but rather to focus on playing hard and concentrating on each point.
"[Thompson said that] it was time that we should leave it all out on the court," sophomore Kelli Harrison said. "It could be the last game of our season, why not leave it out now."
The Jumbos took Thompson's message to heart, scoring eight points in a row and going on to win the game 15-13.
"We actually came out really strong in the first two [games]," Harrison said. "We had a little lull in the second game and were down in the third. It showed heart and desire that we came back to win and rallied to beat them."
Senior setter Rebecca Schaevitz spread her 63 assists around evenly as four different Jumbos earned double digit kills. Classmate and co-captain Emily Macy led the defensive charge with 31 digs in the match.
The tournament started smoothly for the Jumbos with a 3-0 victory over Bowdoin in the first round.
Powered by junior April Gerry's 11 kills and senior co-captain Ali Sauer's six aces, the Jumbos defeated the Polar Bears 30-14, 30-19 and 30-17.
"We just knew we had to take them seriously, come out strong and put them away to save energy and to make a statement," Harrison said.
Saving energy was especially important for Harrison who battled flu-like symptoms all weekend.
"Once the adrenaline's going, [Harrison] is one of the toughest players on our team and she won't let anything get in her way," Thompson said.
