The 18th-ranked women's tennis team has begun to hit its stride after losing four of its first five matches this spring. A non-conference win against Wellesley on April 1 warmed the team up for two key NESCAC matchups this past Friday and Sunday.
The 18th-ranked women's tennis team has begun to hit its stride after losing four of its first five matches this spring. A non-conference win against Wellesley on April 1 warmed the team up for two key NESCAC matchups this past Friday and Sunday.
Despite being outhit 10-9, and allowing four runs in the eighth, the baseball team continued its torrid early-season start, beating Mass. Maritime 12-7 on Monday. The win was the team's ninth straight, moving the Jumbos' overall record to 17-1.
The women's track and field team traveled west over the weekend to Springfield, Mass., for the fourth annual Yellow Jacket Invitational. Despite cold and windy conditions, and a meet that lasted well over 10 hours, the Jumbos took second overall with 75.5 points (first among Div. III schools). The team finished behind Div. I University of Vermont, who obliterated the field with 177.5 points.
In the first major invitational of the spring semester, the men's track and field team overcame unfavorable weather to earn a third-place finish at the Fourth Annual Yellow Jacket Invitation in Springfield, Mass. Div. I Vermont and UMass Amherst were the only teams to surpass Tufts.
In the first major invitational of the spring semester, the men's track and field team overcame unfavorable weather to earn a third-place finish at the Fourth Annual Yellow Jacket Invitation in Springfield, Mass. Div. I Vermont and UMass Amherst were the only teams to surpass Tufts.
Before Wednesday's game, No. 18 Tufts was 2-2 in the NESCAC and desperately needed a win to remain in the running for the conference title. However, the Jumbos were unable to upset the No. 12 Williams Ephs, who came away with a 10-5 victory.
Before Wednesdays game, No. 18 Tufts was 2-2 in the NESCAC and desperately needed a win to remain in the running for the conference title. However, the Jumbos were unable to upset the No. 12 Williams Ephs, who came away with a 10-5 victory.
The mens tennis team shook off a 9-0 loss to No. 4 Amherst to cruise past Wesleyan with an 8-1 win over the weekend, playing both matches at home. After losing to Trinity over spring break and to Amherst on Saturday, Tufts came into its Sunday match against NESCAC-rival Wesleyan in desperate need of a win, as the team hoped to avoid an underwhelming 0-3 start in conference play. Despite the loss to Amherst, the team drew positive lessons from playing a difficult opponent, and brought those lessons into Sundays match against NESCAC rival, Wesleyan. We had chances on every court and the way we fought set us up perfectly for our match against Wesleyan, Zach Ladwig, a senior, said. We took confidence from competing well against Amherst and never let Wesleyan get any momentum against us. The Jumbos also saw their match against the Cardinals as a chance to exact revenge for the Cardinals 5-4 victory last season. We always say that we need to try and treat every match with equal importance, but because we lost to [Wesleyan] last year we had that in the back of our minds and wanted to make sure we played our best, junior co-captain Brian Tan said. Playing inside due to inclement weather, the Jumbos used their extra motivation to take a quick 2-1 lead in doubles. Tan and sophomore Nikola Telkedzhiev won at No. 1 doubles, 8-4, and senior co-captain Austin Blau and sophomore Nick Cary won at No. 3 doubles, 8-3. Sophomore Rob Jacobson and freshman Brad Wong were unable to complete the sweep, as they lost at No. 2 doubles, 8-6. However, it was in singles play where Tufts asserted its dominance, winning all six of its matches, with four of the victories coming in just two sets. The two close three-setters belonged to Telkedzhiev, who won at No. 1 singles 6-3, 6-7(3-7), 11-9, and Ladwig, who won at No. 6 singles 5-7, 6-4, 10-6. Tan also played a close match, but was able to pull out a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 4 singles. Jacobson (7-5, 6-1), Blau (6-4, 6-0) and Wong (6-1, 6-2) all won their matches in convincing fashion. Clinching the match against Wesleyan this year was an extremely special moment after the 5-4 loss last season, Jacobson said. Sticking to the process is going to yield the team big results. On Saturday, Tufts was on the other side of the blowout in its 9-0 loss to Amherst. Saturday saw the doubles portion of the match against Amherst played inside due to inclement weather, but the singles portion began and finished outside on the Voute Courts. The Lord Jeffs took an early lead by going up 3-0 in doubles play. Telkedzhiev and Tan gave Amherst its toughest test in double play, as the duo lost by a score of 8-6. Although the Jumbos were not able to pull out any wins in the singles portion, the matches were a lot closer than the score indicated. Freshman Kevin Kelly was the one Jumbo to push his Lord Jeff opponent to three sets, as Kelly won the second set before eventually falling, 6-3, 3-6, (4-10). Coming off Amherst was tough, but we knew that we played well and had competitive matches that werent necessarily displayed by the score, Blau said. Ladwig noted that the match against Amherst, while a loss, was a great display of the level of competitiveness that the team hopes to bring this year to the courts. Our match was definitely challenging since they are one of the top teams in the nation, he said. However, Ive been on the team for four years and have never seen a Tufts team compete as strongly against Amherst as we did this year. At the end of the weekend, the Jumbos had moved to 4-3 on the season and 1-2 in the NESCAC, but look to be playing stronger tennis as a team as they move into the middle of their season. We created an environment where we were all just bouncing positive energy off of one another, which was a very cool thing to be apart of, Jacobson said. That made a huge difference for us.
The co-ed sailing team continued its spring campaign over the weekend at the 33rd Annual Marchiando Team Race at MIT. The team came in second place out of sixteen, marking a great start to a promising season. The No. 11 Jumbos, with a record of 16-6, finished behind the No. 2 Stanford Cardinals, who won the regatta with a record of 18-4. The No. 1 team in the country, Yale, came in third place with a record of 15-7. The opening round of the regatta featured all 16 teams that attended the competition, with the top eight moving on to the finals. Of the 16 teams competing in the first round, seven of them ranked amongst the top 10 in the nation. The high-caliber opposition gave Tufts a chance to see how it stacked up against the country's most elite teams. "We did very well at the Marchiando Team Race," senior Paula Grasberger said. "[We] came in second only behind Stanford, which was a pretty impressive showing." Tufts posted a record of 10-5 in the opening round, which tied for third place with No. 6 Boston College, No. 10 Brown, No. 8 Roger Williams and Yale. Only Stanford and No. 9 Dartmouth ended the opening round with better records, each earning a 12-3 mark. Tufts' finish guaranteed it a spot in the final round. Tufts suffered losses to Boston College, Dartmouth, St. Mary's and Stanford in the opening round. The team was close to picking up wins against St. Mary's and Harvard, but lost to both opponents, 2-3-6. In the finals, Tufts won six of its seven matches, beating Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, Boston College and Vermont. The lone loss came to the eventual winner, Stanford, which also recorded 6-1 in the finals. The records of both rounds were added up to determine the winner. Dartmouth finished fourth with a record of 15-7 and Brown rounded out the top five with a record of 13-9. "It was a really shifty day, and on one of the races we just weren't able to execute play, and so [Stanford] took advantage of that and [was] able to win," Grasberger said. Only six Jumbo sailors competed in this race, which meant the team was comprised of three skippers and three crews. The skippers were senior tri-captains Will Haeger and David Liebenberg along with junior Alec Ruiz-Ramon. The crews were Grasberger, senior tri-captain Kathleen Kwasniak and junior Sam Madden. Although all of the sailors at the Marchiando Team Race were juniors and seniors, the Jumbos hope to pass the baton to younger sailors as the season progresses. The veteran presence and leadership on the team, which features 19 seniors, will undoubtedly help the underclassmen sailors to develop and become the team leaders as the season progresses. "A lot of [the learning] comes in practice, so we try to help them as much as we can," Ruiz-Ramon said. "We really encourage [the underclassmen] to ask us what we're doing." "Having the experience, you can give a lot of advice to younger sailors and really help them learn what to expect from upper level regattas," Grasberger added. The second-place finish came a week after the Jumbos came in fourth out of nine teams at the Jan T. Friis Intersectional Regatta at Harvard. The team's improvement is a good sign going into the New England Team Racing Championships next week in Connecticut. "This weekend was our best weekend of the spring season so far," Ruiz-Ramon said. "We beat all the other New England teams ... which is a really good sign going into the New England [Team Racing] Championships next weekend, which is the qualifier for Nationals." The second-place finish this past weekend is the highest-place finish that Tufts has earned in the spring season, and the team appears to peaking at the right time heading into its most important stretch of the semester.
The men's tennis team shook off a 9-0 loss to No. 4 Amherst to cruise past Wesleyan with an 8-1 win over the weekend, playing both matches at home. After losing to Trinity over spring break and to Amherst on Saturday, Tufts came into its Sunday match against NESCAC-rival Wesleyan in desperate need of a win, as the team hoped to avoid an underwhelming 0-3 start in conference play. Despite the loss to Amherst, the team drew positive lessons from playing a difficult opponent, and brought those lessons into Sunday's match against NESCAC rival, Wesleyan. "We had chances on every court and the way we fought set us up perfectly for our match against Wesleyan," Zach Ladwig, a senior, said. "We took confidence from competing well against Amherst and never let Wesleyan get any momentum against us." The Jumbos also saw their match against the Cardinals as a chance to exact revenge for the Cardinals 5-4 victory last season. "We always say that we need to try and treat every match with equal importance, but because we lost to [Wesleyan] last year we had that in the back of our minds and wanted to make sure we played our best," junior co-captain Brian Tan said. Playing inside due to inclement weather, the Jumbos used their extra motivation to take a quick 2-1 lead in doubles. Tan and sophomore Nikola Telkedzhiev won at No. 1 doubles, 8-4, and senior co-captain Austin Blau and sophomore Nick Cary won at No. 3 doubles, 8-3. Sophomore Rob Jacobson and freshman Brad Wong were unable to complete the sweep, as they lost at No. 2 doubles, 8-6. However, it was in singles play where Tufts asserted its dominance, winning all six of its matches, with four of the victories coming in just two sets. The two close three-setters belonged to Telkedzhiev, who won at No. 1 singles 6-3, 6-7(3-7), 11-9, and Ladwig, who won at No. 6 singles 5-7, 6-4, 10-6. Tan also played a close match, but was able to pull out a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 4 singles. Jacobson (7-5, 6-1), Blau (6-4, 6-0) and Wong (6-1, 6-2) all won their matches in convincing fashion. "Clinching the match against Wesleyan this year was an extremely special moment after the 5-4 loss last season," Jacobson said. "Sticking to the process is going to yield the team big results." On Saturday, Tufts was on the other side of the blowout in its 9-0 loss to Amherst. Saturday saw the doubles portion of the match against Amherst played inside due to inclement weather, but the singles portion began and finished outside on the Voute Courts. The Lord Jeffs took an early lead by going up 3-0 in doubles play. Telkedzhiev and Tan gave Amherst its toughest test in double play, as the duo lost by a score of 8-6. Although the Jumbos were not able to pull out any wins in the singles portion, the matches were a lot closer than the score indicated. Freshman Kevin Kelly was the one Jumbo to push his Lord Jeff opponent to three sets, as Kelly won the second set before eventually falling, 6-3, 3-6, (4-10). "Coming off Amherst was tough, but we knew that we played well and had competitive matches that weren't necessarily displayed by the score," Blau said. Ladwig noted that the match against Amherst, while a loss, was a great display of the level of competitiveness that the team hopes to bring this year to the courts. "Our match was definitely challenging since they are one of the top teams in the nation," he said. "However, I've been on the team for four years and have never seen a Tufts team compete as strongly against Amherst as we did this year." At the end of the weekend, the Jumbos had moved to 4-3 on the season and 1-2 in the NESCAC, but look to be playing stronger tennis as a team as they move into the middle of their season. "We created an environment where we were all just bouncing positive energy off of one another, which was a very cool thing to be apart of," Jacobson said. "That made a huge difference for us."
The co-ed sailing team continued its spring campaign over the weekend at the 33rd Annual Marchiando Team Race at MIT. The team came in second place out of sixteen, marking a great start to a promising season. The No. 11 Jumbos, with a record of 16-6, finished behind the No. 2 Stanford Cardinals, who won the regatta with a record of 18-4. The No. 1 team in the country, Yale, came in third place with a record of 15-7. The opening round of the regatta featured all 16 teams that attended the competition, with the top eight moving on to the finals. Of the 16 teams competing in the first round, seven of them ranked amongst the top 10 in the nation. The high-caliber opposition gave Tufts a chance to see how it stacked up against the countrys most elite teams. We did very well at the Marchiando Team Race, senior Paula Grasberger said. [We] came in second only behind Stanford, which was a pretty impressive showing. Tufts posted a record of 10-5 in the opening round, which tied for third place with No. 6 Boston College, No. 10 Brown, No. 8 Roger Williams and Yale. Only Stanford and No. 9 Dartmouth ended the opening round with better records, each earning a 12-3 mark. Tufts finish guaranteed it a spot in the final round. Tufts suffered losses to Boston College, Dartmouth, St. Marys and Stanford in the opening round. The team was close to picking up wins against St. Marys and Harvard, but lost to both opponents, 2-3-6. In the finals, Tufts won six of its seven matches, beating Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, Boston College and Vermont. The lone loss came to the eventual winner, Stanford, which also recorded 6-1 in the finals. The records of both rounds were added up to determine the winner. Dartmouth finished fourth with a record of 15-7 and Brown rounded out the top five with a record of 13-9. It was a really shifty day, and on one of the races we just werent able to execute play, and so [Stanford] took advantage of that and [was] able to win, Grasberger said. Only six Jumbo sailors competed in this race, which meant the team was comprised of three skippers and three crews. The skippers were senior tri-captains Will Haeger and David Liebenberg along with junior Alec Ruiz-Ramon. The crews were Grasberger, senior tri-captain Kathleen Kwasniak and junior Sam Madden. Although all of the sailors at the Marchiando Team Race were juniors and seniors, the Jumbos hope to pass the baton to younger sailors as the season progresses. The veteran presence and leadership on the team, which features 19 seniors, will undoubtedly help the underclassmen sailors to develop and become the team leaders as the season progresses. A lot of [the learning] comes in practice, so we try to help them as much as we can, Ruiz-Ramon said. We really encourage [the underclassmen] to ask us what were doing. Having the experience, you can give a lot of advice to younger sailors and really help them learn what to expect from upper level regattas, Grasberger added. The second-place finish came a week after the Jumbos came in fourth out of nine teams at the Jan T. Friis Intersectional Regatta at Harvard. The teams improvement is a good sign going into the New England Team Racing Championships next week in Connecticut. This weekend was our best weekend of the spring season so far, Ruiz-Ramon said. We beat all the other New England teams ... which is a really good sign going into the New England [Team Racing] Championships next weekend, which is the qualifier for Nationals. The second-place finish this past weekend is the highest-place finish that Tufts has earned in the spring season, and the team appears to peaking at the right time heading into its most important stretch of the semester.
After a strong showing at the New England Div. III Indoor Track and Field Championships, the womens track and field team started the outdoor season in similar style, winning the annual Snowflake Classic hosted at Tufts, beating out 23 other teams in the process.
At its lone home meet of the spring season, the mens track and field team braved inclement weather to earn a second-place finish at Dussault Track, 29 points behind conference-rival Bates.
At its lone home meet of the spring season, the men's track and field team braved inclement weather to earn a second-place finish at Dussault Track, 29 points behind conference-rival Bates.
After a strong showing at the New England Div. III Indoor Track and Field Championships, the women's track and field team started the outdoor season in similar style, winning the annual Snowflake Classic hosted at Tufts, beating out 23 other teams in the process.
With the Sweet 16 currently in action, and the Elite Eight coming up on Saturday and Sunday, March Madness is officially in full swing. The NCAA tournament, which began on March 18, has been a whirlwind of overtime thrillers, upset specials and for some teams, devastating losses. True to its aforementioned nickname, the tournament has been true madness. With only 12 teams left standing from the original 64, the Daily is here to help break down what has happened in the first week of the tournament.
The goal of the womens basketball team at the beginning of the season was to win the NESCAC Championship. By the end of the season, the team had not only met that goal they had blown all expectations out of the water. Despite being ranked No. 1 in the conference, the Jumbos saw their NESCAC championship campaign end early last year, suffering a first-round loss to all-time conference champion leaders Bowdoin, 60-54. 13 seasons after the start of the conference championships, the trophy continued to elude all but two teams: the Bowdoin Polar Bears and the Amherst Lord Jeffs, who had won the last four NESCAC titles. But this year, Tufts insisted on breaking Amhersts stranglehold on the championship. The NESCAC Championship our team ha[d] never won that, junior center Hayley Kanner said. We came into the season with that being the primary goal. After the opening weekend that saw Tufts just edge past its first two opponents Baldin Wallace and Rochester by one and four points, respectively, Tufts dominated its next 10 opponents, winning by 14 or more points in each game, including an impressive 70-44 dismissal of Middlebury on Jan. 12 in its first NESCAC matchup of the season. The victory over Middlebury gave Tufts confidence for what was arguably its first true test of the season a matchup against Amherst on Jan. 17. Both teams came into the game undefeated. Despite competing against one of the best teams in the NESCAC, Tufts was undeterred, and fought its way to a 25-25 tie at halftime. With three lead changes in the first 14 minutes of the second half, the Lord Jeffs pulled ahead by one, 50-49, with 5:46 left in the game, before the Jumbos went on a 14-6 run to secure the win. Just like that, the seven-year drought against Amherst was over. Avoiding the post-victory hangover, Tufts handed Trinity its first conference loss of the season the next day, never letting the Bantams get closer than eight points in the second half. With this pair of wins, Tufts moved to the top of the NESCAC standings as the only remaining undefeated team in the conference. The Jumbos went on to win their next seven contests, including four against conference opponents, bringing their winning streak to 21 games. Finally, on Feb. 11, Tufts suffered its first setback of the season. Despite being up 32-13 at the half, the all-too-familiar Tufts early lead resulted in an unfamiliar ending, as non-conference rival Babson defeated Tufts 58-52 for its first loss of the season. The loss, which hurt neither the Jumbos conference standings nor tournament chances, was still a painful one to swallow for the team. The Babson game was a good kick in the butt that we needed, head coach Carla Berube said. It was never a goal of mine to start the season undefeated, but it was too bad [the loss] was on our own court. That [is something] we want to defend at all costs. Against Babson, Tufts allowed 45 points in the second half alone, and for a team with a conference-best defense, such a showing was not ideal preparation for the upcoming NESCAC tournament. However, a win against Colby in Tufts penultimate regular season game secured the team the top seed in the conference tournament. Amhersts loss to Tufts earlier in the season relegated them to second place, even though it remained undefeated against its remaining opponents. Thus, the Lord Jeffs would have to surrender home-court advantage if both they and the Jumbos reached the NESCAC finals. And both teams did. En route to the NESCAC Championship game, Tufts dispatched eighth-seeded Wesleyan 74-46, and fourth-seeded Trinity, 57-47, while Amherst took care of seventh-seeded Hamilton, 78-33, and third-seeded Bowdoin, 45-42. Unlike previous face-offs, Tufts was the favorite against Amherst. And for the second time this season, the Jumbos didnt disappoint. Behind Kanners 21 points, the Jumbos defeated the Lord Jeffs, 62-46, for their first-ever NESCAC title, earning them an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship field. When the tournament began, Tufts first swept aside St. Josephs (Maine), 66-43, before beating University of New England, 57-54, behind senior tri-captain Liz Moynihans buzzer-beating 3-pointer in overtime, and reached the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. And the Jumbos kept winning. After blowing past Castleton by 20 and edging out Ithaca by just two, Tufts found itself within the top four Div. III teams in the country a position it had never reached before. Against Farleigh Dickinson University-Florham (FDU-Florham) in the Final Four, Tufts faced a strong offensive team one that averaged 81 points per game and kept it in check, holding FDU-Florham to just 42. However, down 42-39, Tufts top-scoring guard Foleys last-second shot to tie the game at the buzzer fell off the mark, and the teams whirlwind season came to an end. Tufts followed up the loss with the third-place consolation game, losing 72-54 to Wisconsin-Whitewater. I would not have traded this [chance in the final weekend of the NCAA tournament] for anything, Moynihan said. If we really step back and see what we really accomplished as a team our first NESCAC title and an undefeated NESCAC season, hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAAs all these things are such an amazing accomplishment, and Im so proud of my team. Tufts will be graduating three seniors tri-captains Moynihan, Ali Rocchi and Caitlin McClure cornerstones of the team whose contributions really made the difference this season.12
Finishing its spring break trip to California against No. 5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the No. 18 womens tennis team failed to end its first week of the spring season on a high note. Tufts started the team match slowly, losing three doubles matches by large deficits, 8-1, 8-1 and 8-0. The singles matches were also disappointing for the Jumbos, with five of the six resulting in set victories for the Athenas. The one high point for Tufts was freshman Jacqueline Baum, who earned the only win for her side with a hard-fought, comeback victory over her sophomore counterpart Yvonne Likomanova in No. 6 singles, 3-6, 6-2, 10-7. With the other simultaneously started matches ending in straight sets, Baum had her teammates watching and cheering on for the decisive third set tiebreak. Having the whole team behind me in the third set gave me a lot of confidence, Baum said. I made a lot of changes after the first set, and tried to make [Likomanova] work more. It was a really good way to finish spring break. The loss was the teams second in a row, as the previous day the Jumbos had headed to Claremont to face the Cougars of Azusa Pacific, eventually falling 7-2. After digging a hole by losing the opening doubles matches 8-5, 8-5 and 8-4, Tufts mustered two wins in singles: sophomore Catherine Worley in the No. 6 position 6-2, 6-3, and freshman Conner Calabro in the No. 3 position 6-1, 4-6, 10-7. But spring break was not wholly disappointing for the team, as Tufts put forth its best performance of the week against Denison, 7-2. The highlight matches came in No. 1 and No. 2 singles, with two thrilling three set matches. Senior captain Samantha Gann lost her first set and won the second against Denison senior Kelsey Geppner. In the final set, Gann completed her comeback, winning the set 6-4 and the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Freshman Alexa Meltzer had a similarly back and forth affair at No. 2 singles against sophomore Taylor Hawkins. Meltzer won the first set in a tiebreak 7-6, lost the second 5-7 and came back to win the third set tiebreak 10-7. Calabro also starred for the Jumbos, winning her No. 3 singles match in straight sets 7-5, 6-4, and winning her doubles match against freshman Chelsea Hayashi 8-2. The other victories for Tufts came in No. 3 doubles for Baum and Gann 8-2, No. 5 singles for senior Rebecca Kimmel 6-3, 7-6 and No. 6 singles for Worley 6-0, 6-1. We had a great match against Denison, especially starting off 2-1 in doubles, Baum said. Doubles is one place weve been focusing on, and it was big to get those first vital wins. In Tufts first spring break competition, on March 18 against No. 15 La Verne, the Jumbos lost 6-3. Despite falling to its foes from La Verne, Tufts had several quality individual performances. Had a couple points gone Tufts way, the matchup may have ended differently. Kimmel won her match at No. 6 singles 6-1, 6-2, easily dispatching of La Verne freshman Lauren Torres. Calabro also cruised to a straight set victory, taking down senior Allison Moncrief 6-1, 6-0 in No. 4 singles. La Verne was a really tough team; all the matches were close Kimmel said. I was able to take a couple more points, but most of the matches could have gone either way, including mine. Baum and Gann teamed up to win their match at No. 3 doubles 8-1 over Moncrief and Torres, but both fell in tight singles matches that could have altered the final result for Tufts. In No. 5 singles, Baum fought early against Bridget Etchegary taking the first set to a tiebreak. However, in the extra game, Baum fell 7-3, which was then followed by a tough second-set loss, 6-1. Gann started slowly in her match against sophomore Andrea Madrigal in No. 1 singles, losing the first set 6-1. She battled back to win the second set 6-4, before losing in the decisive third set by the same score. Despite the individual losses, the budding doubles pairing of the freshman and senior captain was one of the highlights of the spring break matches. The duo won two of its four doubles matches. Only Calabro and Hayashi were also able to pair up for a doubles win over this first week of the season. Its really great for me to have a partner who is a senior and is so experienced and energetic on the court, Baum said. Were both really good playing from the baseline, and shes really good coming forward to the net. Ive learned a lot playing with her. Back at Tufts after the four matches in California, the team will begin its NESCAC season this Saturday at home against seventh-ranked Bowdoin, who Tufts fell to 6-3 last season. Doubles will again be really important for us against Bowdoin, Kimmel said. Hopefully we can get off to a fast start, and then just stay in the matches for as long as it takes, and work to compete really hard.
The goal of the women's basketball team at the beginning of the season was to win the NESCAC Championship. By the end of the season, the team had not only met that goal - they had blown all expectations out of the water. Despite being ranked No. 1 in the conference, the Jumbos saw their NESCAC championship campaign end early last year, suffering a first-round loss to all-time conference champion leaders Bowdoin, 60-54. 13 seasons after the start of the conference championships, the trophy continued to elude all but two teams: the Bowdoin Polar Bears and the Amherst Lord Jeffs, who had won the last four NESCAC titles. But this year, Tufts insisted on breaking Amherst's stranglehold on the championship. "The NESCAC Championship - our team ha[d] never won that," junior center Hayley Kanner said. "We came into the season with that being the primary goal." After the opening weekend that saw Tufts just edge past its first two opponents - Baldin Wallace and Rochester - by one and four points, respectively, Tufts dominated its next 10 opponents, winning by 14 or more points in each game, including an impressive 70-44 dismissal of Middlebury on Jan. 12 in its first NESCAC matchup of the season. The victory over Middlebury gave Tufts confidence for what was arguably its first true test of the season - a matchup against Amherst on Jan. 17. Both teams came into the game undefeated. Despite competing against one of the best teams in the NESCAC, Tufts was undeterred, and fought its way to a 25-25 tie at halftime. With three lead changes in the first 14 minutes of the second half, the Lord Jeffs pulled ahead by one, 50-49, with 5:46 left in the game, before the Jumbos went on a 14-6 run to secure the win. Just like that, the seven-year drought against Amherst was over. Avoiding the post-victory hangover, Tufts handed Trinity its first conference loss of the season the next day, never letting the Bantams get closer than eight points in the second half. With this pair of wins, Tufts moved to the top of the NESCAC standings as the only remaining undefeated team in the conference. The Jumbos went on to win their next seven contests, including four against conference opponents, bringing their winning streak to 21 games. Finally, on Feb. 11, Tufts suffered its first setback of the season. Despite being up 32-13 at the half, the all-too-familiar Tufts' early lead resulted in an unfamiliar ending, as non-conference rival Babson defeated Tufts 58-52 for its first loss of the season. The loss, which hurt neither the Jumbos' conference standings nor tournament chances, was still a painful one to swallow for the team. "The Babson game was a good kick in the butt that we needed," head coach Carla Berube said. "It was never a goal of mine to start the season undefeated, but it was too bad [the loss] was on our own court. That [is something] we want to defend at all costs." Against Babson, Tufts allowed 45 points in the second half alone, and for a team with a conference-best defense, such a showing was not ideal preparation for the upcoming NESCAC tournament. However, a win against Colby in Tufts' penultimate regular season game secured the team the top seed in the conference tournament. Amherst's loss to Tufts earlier in the season relegated them to second place, even though it remained undefeated against its remaining opponents. Thus, the Lord Jeffs would have to surrender home-court advantage if both they and the Jumbos reached the NESCAC finals. And both teams did. En route to the NESCAC Championship game, Tufts dispatched eighth-seeded Wesleyan 74-46, and fourth-seeded Trinity, 57-47, while Amherst took care of seventh-seeded Hamilton, 78-33, and third-seeded Bowdoin, 45-42. Unlike previous face-offs, Tufts was the favorite against Amherst. And for the second time this season, the Jumbos didn't disappoint. Behind Kanner's 21 points, the Jumbos defeated the Lord Jeffs, 62-46, for their first-ever NESCAC title, earning them an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship field. When the tournament began, Tufts first swept aside St. Joseph's (Maine), 66-43, before beating University of New England, 57-54, behind senior tri-captain Liz Moynihan's buzzer-beating 3-pointer in overtime, and reached the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. And the Jumbos kept winning. After blowing past Castleton by 20 and edging out Ithaca by just two, Tufts found itself within the top four Div. III teams in the country - a position it had never reached before. Against Farleigh Dickinson University-Florham (FDU-Florham) in the Final Four, Tufts faced a strong offensive team - one that averaged 81 points per game - and kept it in check, holding FDU-Florham to just 42. However, down 42-39, Tufts' top-scoring guard Foley's last-second shot to tie the game at the buzzer fell off the mark, and the team's whirlwind season came to an end. Tufts followed up the loss with the third-place consolation game, losing 72-54 to Wisconsin-Whitewater. "I would not have traded this [chance in the final weekend of the NCAA tournament] for anything," Moynihan said. "If we really step back and see what we really accomplished as a team - our first NESCAC title and an undefeated NESCAC season, hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAAs - all these things are such an amazing accomplishment, and I'm so proud of my team." Tufts will be graduating three seniors - tri-captains Moynihan, Ali Rocchi and Caitlin McClure - cornerstones of the team whose contributions really made the difference this season.12
