Try as it might, the Tufts volleyball team finally had to yield to one of life's inescapable truths: No one is perfect.
A trip to Middlebury this weekend for a four-team conference showdown saw the Jumbos' 19-game winning streak finally come to an end with a loss to the Panthers on Friday night -- the Jumbos' first NESCAC defeat of the year. Fortunately, Tufts was quick to bounce back and easily handled both Hamilton and Williams on Saturday, maintaining its spot atop the NESCAC standings and keeping its hopes of hosting the conference tournament alive.
After the crushing loss on Friday, the Jumbos were clearly out to prove something on Saturday. Though Williams threatened early on in the afternoon contest, taking a 25-16 win in the first set, the Jumbos were determined not to let the Ephs get a hold on the match and hand them their second loss of the weekend. And with a season-high 24-kill effort by junior Dawson Joyce-Mendive, there was not much the Ephs could do to halt the resurgent Jumbos.
Tufts claimed the next three sets 25-19, 25-22 and 25-13, and when all was said and done, the team walked away with its 21st win of the season. It was the second time this year that the Jumbos have defeated the defending NESCAC champion Ephs, who are currently tied for third in the conference with a 5-2 NECAC record. The Jumbos, meanwhile, are still alone at the top of the standings (7-1).
"Williams we knew was going to be tough, and we brought our A-game," senior co-captain Brogie Helgeson said. "We run a fast offense, and that is one of our strengths. So in a game like Williams, when we're passing really well, it allows us to run our offense the way we want."
Pounding the Ephs along with Joyce-Mendive were her usual partners in crime, classmate Caitlin Updike and Helgeson, who chipped in with 15 and 13 kills apiece as the Jumbos landed a total of 58 kills on the match. Defensively, Updike and sophomore libero Audrey Kuan both had outstanding performances, posting 25 digs each, while sophomore Lexi Nicholas stood tall with five blocks — two of them solo.
"In volleyball you need every aspect of the defense and offense to be flowing together to have a good game and really connect," senior co-captian Dena Feiger said. "When the defense is having a good game, everyone else is able to convert on that and everything becomes 1000 percent easier. Our defense is very good, and that's why we've been so good this year. Everything starts from [the defense]."
The win against Williams was a high note of the weekend, as the eight-time conference champions always pose a serious threat and are one of the Jumbos' greatest rivals.
"We never like losing, and we never expect to lose," Feiger said. "And when we do it, it makes us mad. We are one of the best teams in New England, and we just went out there Saturday to prove that."
In the day's earlier match with the lowly Hamilton Continentals, the Jumbos seemed to have already forgotten the previous night's disappointment — a testament to their mantra of one match at a time. Tufts handily dispatched the last-place Continentals in straight sets 25-17, 25-21 and 25-16 to earn its sixth NESCAC win.
Joyce-Mendive and Updike paced the effort with 10 and nine kills, respectively, while Helgeson came up with another seven of her own in addition to a team-leading eight digs. The Jumbos' offense was remarkably efficient throughout the match, converting setter Feiger's 30 assists into 36 kills with just 13 errors.
"[Playing] Hamilton was a good way for us to refocus and get out the frustration from the night before and get our flow back," Helgeson said.
It was Friday night that provided the biggest shock of the weekend — and the entire season thus far. After making the trip up to Vermont, the Jumbos took the court against the middling host Panthers, then 11-4 (2-2 NESCAC). It looked at first to be business as usual, with the Jumbos taking the first set 28-26, though the need for extra points may have been a sign of things to come.
Soon after their first-set win, the Jumbos began to unravel. Despite a combined 66 kills — 55 of them coming from the Updike, Helgeson, Joyce-Mendive trio — and a season-high 55 assists by Feiger, the Jumbos could not keep a handle on the match, committing an uncharacteristically high 25 offensive errors and 16 blocking errors. The Jumbos' mistakes opened the door for the Panthers, who were quick to pounce on the rare opportunity at the upset and pulled off the feat by taking three straight sets: 25-22, 26-24 and 25-22.
"It was a combination of errors and just team chemistry as a whole," Helgeson said. "We weren't expecting them to be as good as they were.
"When we play Williams or Amherst or other bigger teams, we know what to expect. We weren't ready for the way that [Middlebury] played. They were swinging really hard and they had nothing to lose, and they were playing [that way]. We were being lazy, and they took advantage of our weaknesses."
Tufts' defense did its best to try to hold the match together, scrambling for 75 digs. With 20 digs, Kuan was the biggest stopper, but four other Jumbos registered double-digit efforts as well. No amount of grit or determination, however, was able to save the Jumbos; though they were never blown out of the water, they were forced to watch their winning streak, which stretched back to the second match of the season, finally come to end.
"Every team is so excited to play us because of our record and our winning streak," Feiger said. "Teams have absolutely nothing to lose against us, and Middlebury went out there and played one of their best matches of the season. But we hope to see them again in the future."
Though the streak is over and the Jumbos' conference slate is imperfect for the first time in two seasons, they still have much to be happy about. Thanks to their conference wins on Saturday, the Jumbos still lead Conn. College (7-2) in the NESCAC standings and have easily the best overall record in the conference. And with just two conference matches left on the schedule, the Jumbos' dreams of hosting the NESCAC tournament and bringing volleyball back to Cousens Gymnasium are still very much alive.
"I said to the team on senior night that that wasn't our last home game," Helgeson said. "The loss to Middlebury was a wake-up call. This isn't going to be handed to us, and we're going to need to work for it."
