The volleyball team rebounded from a Tuesday night letdown against UMass−Boston by going three−for−three this weekend in a NESCAC slate at Wesleyan. The trio of victories launched Tufts to what has become a familiar locale: first place in the conference standings, tied with Bowdoin at 5−0.
"We knew that in the UMass−Boston loss we were giving away way too many points because of a lack of focus," senior quad−captain Nancy Shrodes said. "So we analyzed that game and regrouped with a refuse−to−lose attitude."
In two out of the three weekend matches, this attitude was hardly put to the test, as the Jumbos trounced the Conn. College Camels, who were playing without NESCAC kill leader Amy Newman, in straight sets on Friday night and easily dispatched the lowly Wesleyan Cardinals the following afternoon. But against Trinity on Saturday morning, Tufts' resolve was put to the test. Against a young Bantam team that shocked the NESCAC world last October by beating the Jumbos in five sets, the Jumbos were pushed to the five−set brink yet again.
Only this time, they overcame a 25−17 loss in the fourth set to get the job done, winning the fifth set 15−11.
"[Trinity] played really well, and our communication on the court wasn't consistent," junior Cara Spieler said. "We were very up and down, which is not like us."
After losing a tight first set to the Bantams 26−24, the Jumbos stormed back in the second set 25−11. The final three sets were close throughout, with Tufts leaning on two of its experienced senior workhorses for the bulk of the offense — Shrodes and fellow quad−captain Caitlin Updike. The duo finished the match with 22 and 24 kills, respectively.
"Our ball control picked up and then everything fell into place," Shrodes said. "There were more holes on the court and the defense was talking to hitters and letting us know what was open." Shrodes was a standout on defense, garnering a team−leading 13 digs.
In the other two matches of the weekend, the Jumbos' flexibility was on display. Friday's match against Conn. College — in which Tufts jumped out 25−10 in the first set and never looked back — was a defensive clinic, as the Conn. College offense sputtered without Newman, and Tufts junior libero Audrey Kuan, who is also an online editor for the Daily, sparkled on defense with 14 digs. Against Wesleyan, the Tufts offense was the star, as the team hit at a .341 clip and did not allow more than 16 points in any set.
Tufts' marathon of road contests continues this week with a Wednesday match at Wellesley, followed by a pair of matches this weekend against NESCAC foes Middlebury and Amherst. The team's captains are taking it upon themselves to help the younger players stay positive throughout the road trip, which will finally end on Oct. 15 in Cousens Gym against Williams.
"It's hard to be away so often because work starts piling up, and it forces you to balance your time a lot," Shrodes said. "We've been through it before, so we give [the younger players] a heads up that they need to stay on top of their work and get some sleep."
Nearly halfway through the season, Tufts again looks like one of the NESCAC's elite. But the team knows that it needs to play better than it did against UMass−Boston and Trinity in order to reach its goal of becoming NESCAC champion, a title that was stolen from them last year by rival Williams.
"I think we have a great chance [to finish first]," Shrodes said, "But I do know that it's a very competitive league, and we are going to have to work hard to earn it."
