LEWISTON, Maine -- Bates College women's volleyball experienced its first home defeat of the season Friday as visiting Tufts University handed the Bobcats a 3-1 setback in a NESCAC clash.

The garnet and white, having had won its first five decisions in Alumni Gym, falls to 6-3 (2-1 NESCAC) with the loss while the Jumbos climb to 6-5 (3-0 NESCAC) with the road win.

After dropping the first set of the night by a score of 25-11, Bates, playing in front of a mighty Pride Night and Back to Bates weekend crowd, gave the fans something to cheer about as the Bobcats evened the match with a 25-22 win in the second stanza.

Tufts proceeded to dismiss any comeback talk by the home team as the Jumbos pushed ahead with wins of 25-12 and 25-18 to seal the four-set triumph.

The duo of Emma Heckman and Claire Castor provided 12 and 10 kills, respectively, for Tufts. Rianna Liu (25 assists, 13 digs) and Ellery Clark (10 assists, 11 digs) each authored double-double performances. Matsa Shi also reached double-digits (11) in the digs column.

Heckman (one solo block, seven block assists) and teammate Julia Griffiths (two solo blocks, 10 block assists), each standing an imposing 6'3", caused nothing but trouble above the net as the tandem combined for 20 rejections.

As for the Bobcats, Ami Evans (10 kills, 12 digs) finished the match with her third-consecutive double-double, and fourth overall. Skye Higashihara, the reigning NESCAC Player of the Week, pocketed her second double-double of the season as the first-year logged 22 assists and a career-high 16 digs.

Sami Kim contributed 13 digs, six helpers, and a trio of service aces in the effort.

Bates get right back at it on Saturday when they take on both Westfield State University (3:00 p.m.) and host-University of New England (5:00 p.m.) in a non-conference tri-match.