Volleyball Falls to #14 Tufts in NCAA Tournament Opening Round

By Jim Fenton

MEDFORD, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University volleyball team was eliminated from the NCAA Division III tournament Thursday night.

The Bears had their season end at the hands of 14th-ranked Tufts University, 3-0, at Cousens Gym with the Jumbos winning by scores of 25-16, 25-10 and 25-13.

BSU (17-5) finished with a .773 winning percentage, the best the program has had since the 2001 team went 31-6 for a .838 winning percentage.

The Bears won their second straight Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament title to receive an automatic bid and went 8-0 to win the regular-season championship.

Tufts, which improved to 21-7, made the NCAAs after winning the New England Small College Athletic Conference tourney as the No. 4 seed last weekend.

Tufts and BSU met for the 24th time since 1994 and the Jumbos have won every match. The Bears and Tufts had not played since 2012, and this was their first NCAA matchup since a 3-0 BSU loss in 2008.

All five losses by the Bears were by 3-0 shutouts, the others coming against Smith, UMass Dartmouth, Plymouth State and Maine Maritime Academy.

Junior captain Lily Welch (Hanson, Mass.) had nine kills and four digs to lead the way for the Bears. Welch also dished out a pair of assists.

Senior Meaghan Coutu (Brookline, N.H.), junior Ava Crane (Dartmouth, Mass.) and sophomore Charlotte Sullivan (Hyannis, Mass.) contributed three kills apiece with Crane adding four digs and Sullivan an ace.

Junior Xin Ai Robinson (Kaiserslautern, Germany) added five assists and five digs while sophomore Natalie Fredriksen (Plymouth, Mass.) chipped in with four assists, an ace and a team-best six digs.

Sophomore Maiwenn Kamdje (Wellesley, Mass.) paced the Tufts attack with a match-high ten kills and a .450 hitting percentage to go along with two assisted blocks.

Junior Claire Castor (Carmel, Ind.) added nine kills, six digs and an ace while junior Emma Heckman (San Diego, Calif.) notched seven kills and an assisted block. Castor posted a .471 hitting percentage while Heckman attacked at a .545 clip.

Junior Rianna Liu (Foster City, Calif.) checked in with 17 assists and nine digs for the Jumbos and sophomore Ellery Clark (Minnetrista, Minn.) dished out 13 assists while sophomore Matsa Shi (La Jolla, Calif.) had 10 digs.

Tufts had a .372 hitting percentage while the Bears were at .050. The Jumbos led in kills (41-21), aces (8-2), assists (36-17), digs (37-30) and Block (4-0).

BSU had slight leads early in all three sets, but Tufts went on runs each time to take control.

The Bears opened the first set with a 2-1 lead on an attack error and service error, but Tufts quickly jumped in front, 9-3 with an 8-1 run.

There were five kills, an ace by freshman Amanda Freehill (Melvin, Ill.) plus a service error and attack error.

A kill by Welch and a service error pulled the Bears within 9-5, but three kills and an ace helped put the Jumbos in front, 14-7.

After a Crane kill made it 15-9, Tufts went ahead, 19-9, with two kills, an attack error and an ace by Liu.

A kill and ace by sophomore Charlotte Sullivan (Hyannis, Mass.) pulled BSU within 20-13 and an ace by Fredriksen cut the deficit to 22-15. But Tufts scored three of the last four points to win the set, finishing it with a kill by Castor.

The Jumbos held a 16-7 edge in kills, 4-0 in blocks and .314-.160 in hitting percentage in the set.

The Bears again held a 2-1 lead to start the second set on an attack error and service error, but Tufts answered with another 8-1 run for a 9-3 lead.

An ace by Clark and a kill by Castor were keys to the run.

A kill by senior Alexis Starks (Milford, Mass.) got BSU within 10-5, but Tufts scored five of the next six points to go up, 15-6. There were three attack errors that helped the Jumbos.

Tufts then went on a 6-1 run with three kills and three attack errors for a 21-7 advantage.

Kills by Crane and Welch put BSU behind, 22-9, but a Heckman kill ended the set.

The Jumbos had a .458 hitting percentage through two sets while the Bears were at .069 and had nine attack errors and three service errors.

In the third set, the Jumbos fell behind, 3-1, as Sullivan had a kill and there was a service error and an attack error.

A 7-1 run in which BSU managed just a kill from senior Meaghan Coutu (Brookline, N.H.) put Tufts ahead, 8-4.

BSU got within 8-6 on a kill by Welch and an attack error, and it was 10-8 after a Crane kill, but Tufts dominated the rest of the way.

The Bears were outscored, 15-5, the remainder of the set. Tufts scored eight straight points for an 18-8 lead.

After being in front, 20-10, the Jumbos took advantage of errors and built a 23-12 lead.

Junior Bridget Lonergan (Manahawkin, N.J.) had a pair of kills to finish the match.

BSU, which had not been to the NCAAs since 2008 prior to last season, loses three players to graduation in Starks, Coutu and Kim Gowell (Durham, N.H.).

In the three matches played earlier in the day at Tufts, top-ranked East Texas Baptist University blanked Maine Maritime Academy, 3-0, Emory University of Atlanta, Ga., defeated Springfield College, 3-0, and Kean University of New Jersey stopped Lasell University of Newton, Mass., 3-0.

East Texas Baptist (32-0) will take on Emory (20-7) Friday at 4:30 p.m. while Tufts goes against Kean (30-5) at 7 p.m. with the winners playing on Saturday at 5 p.m.

The regional winner will move on to the quarterfinal round on Dec. 3.

Bridgewater State Postmatch Interview