Tufts Holds Off Amherst Rally to Advance to Volleyball Championship
Courtesy Williams Sports Information
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — In the second semifinal match of the NESCAC tournament, second seed Tufts University (11-1 in NESCAC and 28-5 overall) defeated the third seed Amherst College (9-3 in NESCAC and 23-7 overall) in a tight five game match 3-2 (30-24, 30-20, 21-30, 23-30, 15-13). Kelli Harrison ’07 led the Jumbos with 9 kills and teammate Emily Macy finished with 31 digs in the match. Jaclyn DeMais ’08 led Amherst with 22 kills.
Tufts appeared to be in control of the match after taking the first two games from Amherst, but the Jeffs came on strong in game three, amassing a 17-8 lead. Amherst’s Nikki Davidson ’05 put away some thundering kills to extend the lead to 27-18 and eventually claim the game 30-21.
With the match still 2-1 in Tufts favor, the Jumbos held a slight lead throughout much of game four, but Amherst was never more than a few points behind. Amherst poured in points late to turn a 15-13 deficit into a 21-17 lead before closing out the match at 30-23.
In the fifth and final game, both teams played with a new level of intensity and Amherst pulled to a 10-6 lead. But Tufts battled back to tie the game at 10 and went ahead 13-11—a deficit Amherst was not able to overcome. Tufts triumphed 15-13 and they will face Williams in the NESCAC final tomorrow at 1:00pm in Chandler Gymnasium.
