Last season, the third-seeded Amherst Lord Jeffs volleyball team got hot at the right time, going on a six-match winning streak that carried them to their first NESCAC Tournament title since 2000.
This year, they're back for more.
The '07 tournament kicks off at the Jeffs' home LeFrak Gym tonight, and seven teams, including the third-seeded Jumbos, will be looking to dethrone Amherst. The Jeffs are the top seed with a 9-1 conference record while the Jumbos, 7-3, take on the 5-5 Trinity Bantams, the tournament's sixth seed.
Both Tufts and Trinity were knocked out in the tournament's first round last year, with Tufts losing to Conn. College and the Bantams falling to the eventual champion Jeffs. This year, both teams are looking for redemption.
"We're really excited to prove ourselves against the rest of the NESCAC," junior Stacy Filocco said. "We lost to Williams and Amherst a while ago, but now we're a different team. We're excited to come out and show everyone that."
The Jumbos come in as the hottest team in the conference, having won 10 of their last 11 matches, including six straight conference wins. But the Bantams have been on a streak of their own - seven of their last nine - and are looking for a win that would tie their program's all-time season record.
In the teams' sole head-to-head match of the season on Oct. 12 at Amherst, the Jumbos won in straight games. The 30-28, 30-28 and 30-21 decision was just their second NESCAC victory.
The clubs will again play at Amherst tonight, arguably a home-away-from-home for Tufts, which has won all four of its matches at LeFrak.
Tufts' hot streak can be traced back to several key formational changes. The Jumbos switched to a 5-1 formation and shortened their rotation, which has improved its consistency and chemistry on the floor. Sophomore Dena Feiger has been pacing the Jumbos offensively, playing entire matches as the only setter on the floor.
Recently, she has been spreading the ball to outside hitters Filocco and freshman Caitlin Updike, who have both recorded double-digit kills in the team's last two matches. Senior captain Katie Wysham and junior Kate Denniston have steadily contributed in the middle of the floor, and Denniston has recently stepped up to hit at .400-plus in her last five matches.
"If we play our game and continue doing what we've been doing - serve-receive passing, establishing the middle - we should have a good chance," Filocco said.
The Bantams' strength, at least statistically, lies in their serving. Trinity ranks second in the NESCAC in service aces per game with 3.06 - nearly double the Jumbos' mark. Three Trinity players have 50 aces on the season, including sophomore Molly Ullman, who also hits for over three kills per game.
"They're going to be a really scrappy team," junior Natalie Goldstein said. "It might take five attacks to get one kill and there will be some really long points."
In addition to battling the Jumbos' familiarity with the court, the Bantams will have to contend with Wysham, who has consistently been the Jumbos' leader this season. Wysham has tallied 153 total blocks this season, 40 more than the entire Trinity team, which has played three more games than Tufts and sits dead last in the conference in that category.
Defensively, Goldstein, Tufts' libero, has paced the team all year. Her 5.3 digs per game are second in the NESCAC only to Trinity's senior co-captain Katie Lenz, who digs out just over six balls per game.
The winner of the match will face the winner of the Middlebury-Williams match tomorrow afternoon.
"We're going to take it one game at a time," Goldstein said. "We'll focus on Trinity. Last year, we looked ahead too much going in, facing Conn. College. We were looking ahead to Amherst. This time, we're only looking at Trinity."
