Teams: Volleyball: Press Releases

Thursday, October 7, 2004
Written by Paul Higbie

TUFTS VOLLEYBALL TEAM RANKED 3RD IN NEW ENGLAND

New England Poll

MEDFORD-- In the fourth poll of the season, the New England Women's Volleyball Association (NEWVA) placed Tufts third among Division III programs. Wrapping up the week of October 3rd with a 13-3 record on the season, the Jumbos follow only Williams and the US Coast Guard Academy. Tufts is directly followed by their Boston-area rival MIT at #4. This is the highest the Tufts volleyball team has ever been ranked in their roughly 20 years of existence.

Two of Tufts' biggest wins this fall have come against this dangerous MIT team. In two meetings, the Jumbos have come out on top after both in identical 3-1 wins. They won at MIT on September 15th, and more recently last Saturday to finish the Tufts Invitational when MIT was ranked second in the region. Tufts has also beaten #12 Smith, and #9 Wellesley, also at the Tufts Invitational.

Because the Jumbos went undefeated at the Tufts Invitational with four wins, they have built up a five-match win streak, with the help of a 3-0 win over Emerson on Tuesday. Earlier this year they put together a seven-match winning streak.

Head Coach Cora Thompson has a young and talented team that can both pound the ball and win with finesse. The Jumbos have an excellent mix of players from all classes.

Setting up the attack, freshman Megan Tunstill (Jacksonville, FL/The Bolles School) and senior Rebecca Schaevitz (San Rafael, CA/The Branson School) lead the team with 340 and 274 assists, respectively.

This pair has a lot of options when it's time for them to put up some points. Senior co-captain Alison Sauer (Larchmont, NY/Mamaroneck) has 126 kills and junior Courtney Evans (Bellaire, TX/Episcopal) has 130. Among the top scorers, sophomore April Gerry (Holmes, NY/Pawling) leads in kill percentage with a .323 mark on 94 kills, closely followed by sophomore Kelli Harrison (Blue Jay, CA/Rim of the World), who has a .310 kill pct. to go along with her team-best 198 kills.

The Jumbos also have two talented servers in Stephanie Viola (Getzville, NY/Nardin Academy) and Evans, who both have 31 aces.

Evans is a defensive force with 91 blocks, 34 of them solo. If the ball gets past her, senior co-captain Emily Macy (Henderson, NV/Green Valley) and Harrison are ready, and have showed this with 226 and 223 digs apiece. Viola is a solid defensive presence with 181 digs.

The season continues for Tufts this Friday and Saturday at a NESCAC Weekend hosted by Colby, where they will play the Mules, Bowdoin, and Bates.

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