Teams: Volleyball: Schedule & Results

VOLLEYBALL OPENS 2009 WITH SPLIT AT BRANDEIS INVITATIONAL

COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL FINAL SCORES
Brandeis Invitational
UMass Boston 3, Tufts 2 (28-26, 22-25, 17-25, 25-18, 15-8)
Tufts 3, Gordon 0 (25-15, 25-9, 25-12)

At Waltham, MA
Friday, September 11, 2009

UMass Boston Match Statistics

Gordon Match Statistics

Dawson Joyce-Mendive had 22 kills as Tufts split two matches to open its season

WALTHAM -- The Tufts University volleyball team opened the 2009-10 Year in Jumbo Sports by splitting a pair of matches at the Brandeis Invitational on Friday night. Tufts (1-1) lost to UMass Boston in five games to open their season, but bounced back with a three-game victory against Gordon College.

When tournament action continues on Saturday at Brandeis, Coach Cora Thompson's Jumbos will face the host Judges (6-2) at 11:00 in the morning and then conclude their action with a match against Babson (2-3) at 1:00 pm.

On Friday, the Jumbos could not hold on to a 2-1 lead in games against UMass Boston in the first match. After losing a close first game 28-26, Tufts posted 25-22 and 25-17 wins to gain an advantage. However, the Beacons (5-2) rallied for the victory with a 25-18 win in the fourth game and a 15-8 final in the decisive fifth game.

The Jumbos were rusty in their opener, making 27 hitting errors and seven service errors. They were led offensively by senior co-captain Brogie Helgeson (Santa Cruz, CA), who had 12 kills and two errors in 29 attempts. Senior co-captain Dena Feiger (Long Grove, IL) finished with 41 assists. On defense, sophomore Audrey Kuan (Los Altos, CA) debuted as the starting libero with 13 digs, while Helgeson added nine.

Tufts came back to steamroll Gordon (0-7) in their 8:00 match, with scores of 25-15, 25-9 and 25-12. A more effective offense was paced by junior Dawson Joyce-Mendive (Minden, NV) with nine kills and nearly 10 assists per game by Feiger. Sophomore Nancy Shrodes (Manhattan Beach, CA) led the defense with 10 digs.

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