Medford, MA --- WPI volleyball fell to hosts Tufts in straight sets by games scores of 16-25, 20-25, 14-25 in Cousens Gymnasium & Tye Court in a Tuesday night non-conference contest.
With the setback, WPI falls to 1-2 as Tufts kicked off their season 1-0.
The Engineers and Jumbos traded points back-and-forth as the hosts posted five attack errors and a pair of service errors to give WPI a 9-7 lead before rallying back to a 19-14 lead while rattling seven kills and two aces to get the offense moving for Tufts as
Audrey Stroupe (Leesburg, VA) fought to keep the Crimson and Gray within close reach with a trio of kills. WPI then cooled off as the Jumbos tacked on five consecutive points to bring the opening set to 24-14. Back-to-back kills by
Zeala VanDamme (San Diego, CA) teased a comeback before Tufts closed out the set 25-16.
Anastasia Kelnik (Fair lawn, NJ), VanDamme and
Preslie Jerebker (Denver, CO) got the offense going in the second set combining for seven of the squad's first 10 points to bring the match to a one-point contest before Tufts roared back with an 8-3 run featuring five kills from
Claire Castor (Carmel, IN),
Emma Heckman (San Diego, CA) and a
Rianna Liu (Foster City, CA) ace giving the Jumbos a 19-13 lead. A foursome of errant serves, kills by Stroupe and Eldridge, and a VanDamme ace gave the Engineers their final strikes as the hosts pulled away with kills by
Alina Qi (San Francisco, CA) and Heckman.
Keller Mobley (Louisville, Kentucky) and
Akpevwe Akpoigbe (Lake Zurich, IL) added to the attack in the third set with a pair of kills each to help push the Jumbos out to a 10-4 lead over WPI. Stroupe and
Emily Hudson (Melrose, MA) posted a few kills in the final stanza but the hosts rallied off for 12-3 run to advance the lead to 24-11 before clinching the third set victory, 25-14.
The Engineers return to road action on Friday as they head to take on Simmons in Boston at 7pm as Tufts will head out Saint Louis for the East West Classic featuring Colorado College, Claremont Mudd-Scripps and Washington University-St. Louis this Friday-Saturday.
