LEWISTON, Maine -- No. 22 nationally ranked Tufts University came from behind to win the first set and went on to a 3-0 defeat of the Bates College volleyball team on Friday night in Alumni Gym, as the visiting Jumbos earned the NESCAC win by set scores of 25-22, 25-21, 25-15.
The win was the seventh in a row for the Jumbos (16-4, 7-2 NESCAC), who will wrap up the regular season tomorrow at Colby (2pm). Tufts is currently in third place in the NESCAC but could move into second place in the final standings with a win.
Bates (7-15, 2-7 NESCAC) concludes the 2021 season at home against first-place Bowdoin tomorrow at 2pm. The Bobcats will celebrate Senior Day, recognizing its three members of the Class of 2022:
Brettney Fuller,
Sydney Phillips and
Megan Seabury.
In a well-played first set by both sides, Bates led the first set by scores of 11-7, 13-9 and 17-14, and hit at a .256 percentage to Tufts' match-high .333. Tufts used a pair of kills by Desler in a 4-0 run to take its first lead since 7-5 at 18-17, and scored four straight again thanks to three Bates errors and a kill by Lightfoot.
Trailing 24-19, Bates made a late run with kills by
Julia Neumann and Phillips, followed by an ace served by
Charlotte Morris. But the Jumbos took the 1-0 lead on a kill by Jennifer Ryan.
Bates got out to an 11-8 lead in the second set before a run of seven straight points, with Megan Harrison serving, put Tufts in control with a 15-11 lead. The Tufts run featured kills by four different players. Bates closed the gap to 17-16 with a succession of Tufts errors, but back-to-back kills by Yarwood and Legris returned the cushion to three points. Lightfoot registered Tufts' 24th point of the set, and a Bates service error advanced the match to a third set with the Jumbos ahead 2-0.
Tufts again overcame an early Bates lead in the third set, going ahead for the first time at 9-8. Bates got kills from Phillips and
Cayla Deacon to keep the Bobcats from losing too much momentum, leaving Tufts with its last two-point lead at 14-12. Then five straight Jumbo points, including an ace by Legris, a kill by Desler and a block by Desler and Anna Nachmanoff, opened a 19-12 lead and Tufts led comfortably the rest of the way.
