Action photos by Laura Cronin
Medford, Mass. -- The Ephs endured a tough road loss to the Tufts Jumbos this evening at Cousens Gymnasium. Seeking to avenge an early season loss to the Jumbos in the semifinals of the MIT Invitational tournament, the Ephs were unable to close out a victory, despite having a one set lead following the end of the third set. The Jumbos roared back, taking both sets four and five en route to the 3-2 victory 26-24, 23-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-8.
In set one the Ephs opened up strong, jumping out to an early lead behind scrappy defense and some tough serving. The Ephs were led by senior co-captain Kate Anderson, who posted an impressive double-double with 18 digs and 17 kills. Despite having the momentum for the majority of the set, though, the Ephs were unable to close in the final flurry of points, allowing Tufts to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat 26-24.
Determined to strike back in set number two, the Ephs allowed Tufts, riding the emotions from their come from behind victory in the previous game, to seize control of the set. Despite spotting their opponents an early lead, however, the Ephs refused to roll over, chipping steadily away at the Tufts advantage. Senior Nicole Ballon-Landa, currently ranked in the top 20 nationally in Division III for hitting percentage, slammed home multiple kills in the set as the Ephs pulled back for the win 25-23. Ballon-Landa would finish the match with a team-leading 19 kills while hitting at a clip of .390.
Despite again allowing Tufts an early lead to open the third set, the Ephs sensing weakness, put their foot on the gas. Senior setter Emily Avis, ably quarterbacking the Williams offense, had 15 of her 54 assists in the third set. Steadily pulling away from their opponents, the team closed out the victory 25-19.
In set number four, however, the team, having lived dangerously in allowing Tufts to rip off long, uncontested runs of points in previous sets, finally began to crumble, allowing the Jumbos to run out to a nine point lead, 19-10. The Eph offense, despite firing on all cylinders at times, also struggled to find a way around the tough blocking of the Jumbos. By committing an uncharacteristically large number of hitting errors, the team would have dangerously low team hitting percentage of only .145 for the match. Attempting to rally, the Ephs would close the gap to only a few points, although the mountain proved too much to climb, as Tufts closed out the victory 25-22.
The Ephs, however, arguably possessed some momentum following their abortive comeback in the previous set heading into the fifth and deciding set. The Jumbos had also shown themselves to be vulnerable when challenged. Inexplicably, though, the Ephs opened up the fifth set on what can only be described as a season low, allowing Tufts to score 11 unanswered points, a nearly insurmountable advantage in the quick fifth set to 15 points. Trying to launch yet another comeback bid to salvage their pride and maybe pull off a miraculous upset the Ephs fell short, conceding the match to their opponents 15-8.
The loss, while obviously a disappointment, does not necessarily spell doom for the team as a whole. Had the team not conspired in a string of errors, both hitting and, to a lesser extent serving (10 total team errors), the outcome of the match could have been much different. In all the positives from the match, strong passing on serve receive and valuable minutes and contributions from role players off the bench, bode well for future success. Still, the manner of the defeat, if not the actual defeat itself, will certainly sting for a while. Head coach Christi Kelsey, undoubtedly trying to focus on the team's next match against Bowdoin, was unavailable to comment on her team's performance. The loss drops the team to 15-7 (5-2 in NESCAC). The Ephs will look to bounce back tomorrow morning at 11 am against the Polar Bears.
