One week after losing the NESCAC Championship to Colby, the volleyball team faced the Mules in another crucial match, this time in the NCAA Tournament Regional Final. Unfortunately for the Jumbos, the result was no different.
Playing on their home court, the Mules defeated the Jumbos 3-0 for the third time this season to advance to the NCAA Div. III Tournament Semifinals.
"There was a hint of disappointment," Coach Cora Thompson said. "We believed we could win. We believed that the third time could be the charm. We had already lost to them twice, but we had never played our best game against them. Even though it was disappointing to lose, we played great against them and it was a great match."
While the loss puts an end to the 2005 campaign, the season draws to a close with a place in the record books. The two NCAA victories that set up the regional final showdown with Colby were the first two tournament wins in Tufts history.
"That was the best we've ever done [in NCAAs]," senior co-captain April Gerry said. "That was the farthest we've ever gone. I was just so proud to be a part of it."
In addition to a successful run in the tournament, the team's 29-7 record was the most wins in Tufts volleyball history, edging out last season's 28 and meeting a preseason goal.
"Our goal coming into the season was 29 wins and we accomplished it," senior co-captain Evans said. "That's more important than comparing ourselves to other Tufts teams. It's so great that we met our goal because it shows we really came together."
Despite the record, it was the Jumbos' inability to edge out the Mules all year that essentially doomed their season, as three of the team's seven losses came against Colby.
After losing the conference opener and the conference championship match to the Mules, the Jumbos hoped to reverse the trend on Saturday. The team got off to a good start, taking an early lead in the opening game. The Mules fought back, however, to close the score to 22-22 before taking a 29-23 lead in the game. They went on to win the first game 30-26.
"I think that did a little bit to our confidence," Evans said. "Our passing broke down. They capitalized and started pushing us."
The Mules used their momentum from the first game comeback and raced out to a 30-23 victory in the second game to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. Colby, one game away from earning a trip to the semifinals in Virginia, appeared well on their way to finishing off the Jumbos in the third game, taking a 24-18 lead.
But the Jumbos refused to go quietly. Just six points from elimination, Tufts clawed back into the game, going on an 11-5 run to tie the game at 29.
"We started realizing that we were down and we had to pick it up," Evans said. "Everyone just realized that we had to step up and everyone played awesome."
The Mules turned to star senior Cait Cleaver to finish off the Jumbos. After giving Colby a 30-29 edge with a block, Cleaver ended a long point by downing her 21st kill of the match to put the game away.
"Cait Cleaver is just a really good player," Evans said. "She's a smart hitter and she can see the holes in the defense and put it down."
Cleaver also spearheaded the Mule defense with a match-leading 20 digs. For the Jumbos, freshman Kaitlin O'Reilly recorded 40 assists as junior Dana Fleisher and Evans picked up 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
The Jumbos could not find an answer for Colby's trio of senior captains, as Cleaver, Kaitlin Adams and Megan Devlin combined for 44 kills.
On Friday, it was a different story for the Jumbos, who defeated Colby-Sawyer 3-0 to notch their 29th victory of the season.
"We stayed energetic and executed the whole match," Evans said. "When we had a lead, we just kept pushing. We showed a lot of mental toughness that match."
The match started out evenly as the two teams locked up in a 10-10 tie. But the Jumbos reeled off seven straight points to take control of the game and went on to win the match 30-18. Game Two also went to Tufts by a 30-21 score, and sixth-seeded Colby-Sawyer found itself just one game away from elimination.
Trying to notch their second upset of the tournament, after upending third-seeded Smith in the first round, the Chargers took a 6-4 lead in the third game. But the Jumbos scored 13 of the next 17 points to lead the way to a 30-17 victory.
Gerry had a big match, recording 15 kills on 26 attempts for a .538 kill percentage.
"Talk about a senior who literally put the team on her back," Thompson said of Gerry. "She was absolutely on fire. She jumped higher, hit harder, and played smarter than she has all year. She put the team on her back and carried it to the championship match."
Freshman Caitlin Dealy added 11 kills as O'Reilly recorded 42 assists in the win.
"That was a really good game for us," Gerry said. "We felt like we were really clicking. We didn't want to end our season there. We wanted to prove we deserved our No. 2 seed, and we did. We destroyed them."
In the first match, the Jumbos moved past Emmanuel 3-0. While Thompson was not happy with the team's start, Tufts managed to pull out two 30-28 victories before closing the match out with a 30-21 win.
"We underestimated Emmanuel a little bit," Evans said. "They played great defense. It was frustrating to play against them because they kept the ball up."
The Jumbos committed 11 service errors in the match, including four by Dealy, who redeemed herself with 11 kills to lead the Jumbos along with sophomore Katie Wysham. O'Reilly recorded 37 assists and Evans put down six blocks.
The win was the Jumbos' first in an NCAA Tournament match and matched the win total from the 2004 team.
