The Jumbos hit the road for the first time in the fall 2025 semester for their first tournament of the season in Salisbury, Maryland at Maggs Activities Center this past weekend. The schools that participated in the series were the Tufts Jumbos, Salisbury Sea Gulls and the Gettysburg Bullets.
The Jumbos’ record in the series was 2–1, with their loss coming in the first game against the Sea Gulls. The two wins came in the second game against the Sea Gulls and the game against the Bullets. This tournament was a showcase of the Jumbo’s resilience to stay the course even with a quivering start.
The first match of the tournament for the Jumbos was against the Sea Gulls. Junior captain Rianna Liu started the game with a winning serve leading to their first point in the tournament. Junior Emma Heckman and sophomore Maiwenn Kamdje were two of the consistent leaders in kills to help drive this winning set.
The Sea Gulls, after losing the first set, came back with strength to win the last three sets, giving the Jumbos their first loss of the season. This effort from the Sea Gulls was led by Kiley McTaggart who led their winning match in both kills and aces. The Jumbos struggled to get past their own attack errors, and the challenging kills the Sea Gulls were feeding.
After the game, the Jumbos knew they needed to go over the loss. “We had multiple productive team conversations to set goals for our next two matches and used our loss as fuel for Saturday,” sophomore Ellery Clark said. The Jumbos were actively redirecting the tournament to work in their favor.
Following the first match, the Jumbos came in with a different mindset to ensure a tough battle with the Sea Gulls. “One of the things our team has heavily focused on in practice and worked to build is an ‘attack mentality,’ – in which we earn everything and approach challenges with grit and tenacity,.” said Clark. Heckman and Kamdje each tallied 14 kills, keeping the offense alive deep into the fifth set. The Jumbos took control of the match, securing their first win in the tournament.
The Jumbos faced their last match on Saturday against the Bullets after winning the match against the Sea Gulls. The match was a perfect display of the team’s fierce efforts. As the match started, the Bullets had a bit of momentum that was quickly capped by the aid of sophomore Matsa Shi, who had five aces in the match. The difficult performance against the Sea Gulls prepared the Jumbos to be immune to any misalignment.
One of the leading figures within the offence was junior Claire Castor who had nine kills in the match and Liu who had 18 assists. The defense by Maiwenn who had three blocks, and Matsa who had nine digs, shows the team’s strengths in having multiple roles on the offense and defense. The Jumbos secured the win against the bullets from clearing out in straight sets. The final record for the Jumbos after their last game against the Bullets is 3–1.
The Jumbos have not yet faced a team from the NESCAC. Last year the Jumbos ended their season with a 13–11 overall record and a conference record of 7–3. The next tournament that the Jumbos will take part in this season will be the New England Invitational in October.
Tufts will soon face Worcester Polytechnic Institute Wednesday in Worcester, Mass.
