The volleyball team will be heading to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year after the selection committee announced yesterday that the Jumbos had made the eight-team New England Regional bracket, joining fellow NESCAC teams Amherst and Middlebury.
After losing out on a chance to clinch a spot in Sunday's NESCAC Championship match against Middlebury, Tufts' season appeared to be over at 22-10. But the committee rewarded the Jumbos' strength of schedule — they opened the year with a tough non-conference slate that included a match against national No. 3 Emory and beat perennial top New England team UMass Boston in straight sets — and their recent history of national success including last year's run to the Elite Eight.
"It was a bit of a surprise, but coach [Cora Thompson] had told me that we had a chance because of our schedule and recent successes," senior quad-captain Nancy Shrodes said. "I was so stoked to find out that we had made it."
The Jumbos on Friday night will head to Springfield College as the No. 4 seed to face the No. 5 seed and host in the first round of what should be a slugfest between two teams which this season have spent time at the top of the regional rankings.
Nine of Tufts' 10 losses this season have come on the road, but just this Saturday, the Jumbos dispatched Amherst on its home floor. The team will have to muster a similar effort to take out a Springfield team that also earned an at-large bid after losing its conference championship game to Coast Guard in four sets.
"We haven't played them, but I know that they are tough and have some big middles," Shrodes said.
For the last two seasons, Tufts and Williams represented the NESCAC at nationals. But this season's emergence of Amherst and Middlebury represents even more depth in what is from top-to-bottom one of the strongest conferences in the nation.
Tufts will be trying for its second straight appearance in the national quarterfinals, which will be held at Washington University in St. Louis. The volleyball team now joins the field hockey team as the only fall team so far to earn a spot in an NCAA tournament bracket.
