This past weekend, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, volleyball seniors Lizzy Reed ’15, Olivia Kolodka ’15 and Piper Underbrink ’15 played their final regular season home games in Pepin Gym. In the process, the Panthers solidified their fourth seed for the NESCAC tournament that begins Friday night, Nov. 7.
Friday night the Panthers beat the visiting Connecticut College Camels (14-10, 5-5) convincingly in just three sets: 25-18, 25-20 and 25-13. It was a night that celebrated the three members of the team who will in May, kicked off by the singing of the national anthem, courtesy of Underbrink’s mother.
Underbrink and Alice Roberts ’18 had a team high with nine kills each. Melanie English ’17 hit .778 with seven kills on nine attempts and no errors, and defensively had two block solos and three block assists. Becca Raffel ’18 continued her strong first-year campaign tallying seven kills. Reed and Hannah Blackburn ’17 dished out two service aces apiece to go with Blackburn’s 35 assists.
After a late Middlebury comeback fell short in the first set, the Panthers and the crowd began set two energized, jumping on the Jumbos four to one. Olivia Kolodka and English denied a number of Tufts kills early, before making subs to try and stave off a Tufts run.
Jumbo outside hitters Maddie Kuppe and Hayley Hooper led a Tufts run that put the Jumbos on top 12-8. Hooper, a senior and Tufts kills leader, seemed to capitalize on every kill opportunity she had in the set, while the Tufts front line formed an iron curtain, denying Middlebury scorers until Roberts converted a kill for a 16-9 deficit.
Middlebury would fight back after a timeout, as Olivia Kolodka denied a kill shot from Tufts senior Isabel Kuhel. But it wouldn’t be enough for the Panthers, with Tufts looking unstoppable taking the second set 25-13.
A pair of Raffel kills and Jumbo errors saw Middlebury take a narrow lead. Middlebury’s Blackburn delivered a service ace that was followed by a net violation on Tufts. A kill from English coming out of a Jumbos’ timeout appeared to give Middlebury the momentum. The Panthers were pushed to victory by several key kills and blocks by the front line, forcing Tufts to play a fourth set.
Although the Panthers lost the fourth and deciding set, the team battled down the stretch and gave the favored Jumbos all they could handle. The Jumbos’ hulking and more experienced front line may have been victorious, but first-years Roberts and Raffel, along with Underbrink, all contributed with both sensational kills and momentous blocks.
Playing her final regular season game for the Panthers, Reed said the seniors tried to play it like a normal game.
“We have a very special team and it’s an honor to play with such a great group of people and such devoted coaches,” Reed said. “It’s going to be exciting for us to go to NESCACs and see what we can do.”
Next up for the Panthers is the NESCAC Tournament. The fourth-seeded Panthers will play fifth seeded Bowdoin (20-7, 6-4) Friday night, Nov. 7 at 8pm in Medford, MA at Tufts’ Cousens Gym.
