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Date: November 11, 2005
Contact: Bill Sodoma

 

Tufts volleyball makes NCAA regional final with win over Colby-Sawyer

WATERVILLE, Maine ---- The Tufts University volleyball team will play in a title match for the second time in less than a week at Colby College. The second-seeded Jumbos took a 3-0 victory (30-18, 30-21, 30-17) over sixth-seeded Colby-Sawyer College in an NCAA Division III New England Regional semifinal game Friday at Wadsworth Gymnasium.

Tufts (29-6) will play in a regional final Saturday at 7 p.m. against the winner of the other semifinal between Colby and MIT. Colby took a 3-0 win over the Jumbos last Sunday in the New England Small College Athletic Conference Championship title game. The winner of the New England Regional final heads to Salem, Virginia for an NCAA quarterfinal game against the Mid-Atlantic Regional winner on November 17.

April Gerry (Holmes, N.Y.) had 15 kills to lead Tufts. The Jumbos also received 11 kills from Caitlin Dealy (Santa Barbara, Calif.), 42 assists by Kaitlin O'Reilly (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), and six kills apiece from Katie Wysham (Spokane, Wash.) and Dana Fleisher (Aspen, Colo.).

Colby-Sawyer (30-9) was in all three games early in the match. The first game was tied 10-10 before Tufts ran off seven straight points to take control. In the third game, the Chargers led 6-4 only to watch Tufts go on a 13-4 run to take a 17-10 lead.

Jessica Niebuhr had 23 assists and 15 digs to lead Colby-Sawyer. Anne Coulter (Hudson, N.H.) added nine kills, Kathy Couture (Greenfield, Mass.) had seven kills and Amy Tarte (Meredith, N.H.) had 14 digs. Couture finished her career with a school-best 1,507 kills, while Coulter is the career leader in blocks (389) and ends her career with 1,175 kills.