Coming off two disappointing defeats over the weekend against Middlebury and Amherst that dropped it to 5−2 in the NESCAC, the Tufts volleyball team desperately needed a bounce−back win Wednesday night in a road match at Bowdoin.
But after dropping a five−set thriller in which they were originally up two sets and later were two points from the match, the Jumbos left the Pine Tree State empty−handed and even further south in the NESCAC standings.
Playing without senior quad−captain Caitlin Updike, who was hobbled with a sprained ankle, Tufts jumped out to a fast start, capturing the first set by a count of 25−16 and pressing their advantage with a 25−19 victory in the second frame. Victory was nearly at hand for the Jumbos, who entered the match with a 14−5 overall record. But the Polar Bears would not go easily, rallying for a fairly easy 25−16 third set win and a 25−22 triumph in the fourth frame.
Often, after such a grueling match, the decisive conclusion can be anti−climactic, yet this fifth set lived up to the expectations of the large crowd in Morrell Gymnasium, as the teams traded leads until Tufts was able to wrest control at 13−10.
With their backs against the wall, the Polar Bears confidently gathered themselves again, reeling off five points in a row and icing Tufts with a block by freshman Ellie Brennan, who finished the match with 10 kills and two blocks. Bowdoin's win was its first against Tufts since the inception of the NESCAC in 2000.
Tufts' disappointing result hides the fact that some team members clearly had their best games of the season. Sophomore setter Kendall Lord especially shined, finishing with an astounding season−high 47 assists, in addition to 12 digs and four aces. Junior Cara Spieler also added 13 kills and 19 digs in the loss.
"We didn't actually play that badly," Spieler said, "We were communicating well but just made some stupid mistakes at key moments, which let us down in the end."
These mistakes were costly, as the Bowdoin loss gives Tufts a three−game NESCAC losing streak and pushes its conference standing to sixth, making the team's early season goal of hosting the NESCAC tournament highly improbable.
"It was an upsetting, disappointing loss, because we played our hearts out and were in a position to win," Lord said. "We just couldn't pull it out as a team at the end."
Tufts was offensively limited in the match without Updike, one of their leaders on the court and a NESCAC player of the week earlier this season.
"It was difficult with Caitlin missing," Spieler said. "We rely on her so much that we had to change the way we usually play."
Yet even without their star, the team was in position to capture the match and views this contest as one that they could have easily won.
"We let them go on a run in the last set," Lord said. "It wasn't necessarily Caitlin's injury that caused us to lose."
Fortunately for the Jumbos, the top eight teams in the conference make the NESCAC tournament, and the teams in seventh and eighth place have 2−4 and 1−6 records, respectively.
To ensure a high ranking for the tournament, Tufts has to quickly regroup and focus for the team's final two conference battles, both of which take place this weekend and — finally after three weeks on the road — at home. First, the Jumbos will battle the Williams Ephs tonight in Cousens Gym. Tomorrow, the team will take on the 1−5 Hamilton Colonials, also at home.
"We're keeping our heads up high going into this weekend," Spieler said. "It'll be nice to return to our home court."
