People always say that winning isn't easy. But they probably have never seen the Tufts volleyball team play.
In claiming their second consecutive MIT Invitational victory in an absolutely dominant fashion this weekend — dropping just one set over the course of four matches — the Jumbos certainly made it look like a walk in the park.
After dropping Conn. College in the semifinals earlier in the afternoon, Tufts was set to face one of its biggest rivals in Saturday evening's tournament final: Williams.
The last time the Jumbos and Ephs squared off, Williams upset the top-ranked Jumbos in the semifinals of last year's NESCAC tournament, ending Tufts' perfect NESCAC record and halting its hopes of a conference title. This time, the Jumbos were out for revenge.
Tufts needed a few extra rallies to net the 26-24 win in the first set, but it seemed to settle in from there on out, finishing off the match with 25-21 and 25-20 wins to claim its eleventh consecutive win and its seventh of the year in straight sets.
"It's always fun to beat Williams," senior co-captain Dena Feiger said. "They're a great team and a NESCAC rival.
"We go out there to win every single point and every single set," she continued. "We don't like to lose anything, and we expect to win in three [sets] against every opponent."
The championship match was a decidedly defensive contest that saw the Jumbos come up with a combined 102 digs over the course of the three sets, with the biggest contributions coming from sophomore libero Audrey Kuan (36) and Feiger (20). Feiger also registered 35 assists as she ran the offense with her usual efficiency.
"It wasn't so much thinking about last year," said Kuan, in reference to the NESCAC tournament loss to Williams in 2008. "It was just coming off a good match before that and coming out strong."
Senior co-captain Brogie Helgeson and sophomore Lexi Nicholas paced the Jumbos in their championship run, landing 10 kills apiece. Junior Caitlin Updike netted another nine of her own, as Tufts totaled 43 kills in the match.
Along with the tournament title and the sweet payback against their conference foe, the Jumbos also earned multiple tournament honors. Helgeson was named the tournament MVP after averaging more than 10 kills per match, while Kuan was named to her second all-tournament team of the year. With the win, the Jumbos are now 11-1 on the year, the best overall record in the NESCAC, and sit tied atop the conference standings with Amherst and Trinity thanks to their clean 2-0 slate.
"It felt like such a great team effort, and we got contributions from the core energy of everyone on the bench," Helgeson said. "I'm honored to get this award, but it was just a great team effort."
"Winning is a big part [of my play]," Kuan said. "I just really like to win. I don't really think about it, I just go out and play and see what happens."
In the semifinal match against Conn. College, which Tufts already dispatched last weekend in a conference matchup, the Jumbos showed their only sign of faltering all weekend. After dropping the first set 25-19, it looked like the Jumbos would be in for a tough match. In fact, they were, as the remaining sets were all decided by three or fewer points. But it was Tufts that came out on top as it went on to sweep the next three sets 25-23, 25-22 and 25-23 to advance to the finals.
"One of the biggest things this year is that even if we're down at the beginning of a match or the middle of a match, we're really good at coming back and not giving up," Kuan said.
After the tough loss in the first set, the Jumbos' offense began firing on all cylinders, as Helgeson notched a tournament-high 15 kills and juniors Dawson Joyce-Mendive and Updike added 12 and nine, respectively. In all, Tufts pounded the Camels with 51 strikes by the end of the match. Also key to the Jumbo's offense was junior Nancy Shrodes, who served up three aces and now leads the team with 15 on the year.
"Nancy Shrodes did a phenomenal job serving all weekend," coach Cora Thompson said. "She really kept our team's momentum going, because those games were tight and there wasn't a lot of room for error. Something we've been working [on] is more consistency serving, and [Nancy] was the epitome of that this weekend."
In Friday's opening rounds played at Cousens Gym, Tufts swept past Bowdoin and Bridgewater state by mostly comfortable margins, a great contrast to Saturday's nail-biting contests. As the Jumbos dropped NESCAC foe Bowdoin 25-17, 25-19, 25-23 in their second round match, it was Shrodes who offered one of the most thrilling performances. In Tufts' first-set victory, Shrodes went on a seven-point service tear, capping off the run with the squad's first ace of the match.
In their weekend opener against Bridgewater State, the Jumbos cruised to victory by even wider margins: 25-17, 25-9 and 25-13. After the Bears blew an early lead in the first set, the Jumbos seized control for the remainder of the match, never falling behind again. Feiger seemed eager to spread the wealth offensively, as four different Jumbos racked up eight or more kills.
"We need to focus from the first point to the last," Thompson said. "We want to break out of the gates and be full speed, but we don't to be too high or too low. We're focusing on being consistent."
With another tournament title in the books and their winning streak still alive, the Jumbos feel as though they are sending a message to the rest of the teams in the region.
"We love beating Williams, but we love the message it sends even more," Helegeson said. "We want teams to know we're not messing around, and we're coming to do business.
"We're not satisfied with beating [Williams] once," she continued. "We're going to see them again, probably at least twice more, and I know we won't be satisfied until we beat them two more times."
Tomorrow night, the Jumbos will get the chance to make that message even clearer and exact revenge for the second time this week when they host the only team to beat them this year: UMass Boston.
"If we continue to play how we've been playing and if we connect as a team, we have a chance to shut out UMass Boston, let alone beat them," Feiger said. "We're so lucky to have a chance to play [them] again, and everyone is excited to show them who the better team is."
