BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University women's volleyball team fell to Tufts, 3-1 (25-17, 25-9, 23-25, 25-11) on Wednesday evening in the RWU Campus Rec Center Gymnasium in non-conference action.
The Jumbos hit .270, while holding the Hawks to a hitting percentage of 0.19. The Jumbos had 54 kills in the match, with four service aces, 10 blocks, and 52 assists, with 79 digs. The Hawks had 31 kills in the matchup, with four blocks, 31 assists, and 63 digs.
For the Jumbos, Claire Castor had 12 kills, with Emma Heckman also recording double-digit kills with 11. Masta Shi had three aces in the contest, with Rianna Liu recording 31 assists in the match. Castor had 14 digs to finish the double-double, while Julia Griffiths had six blocks.
Brianna Picchietti (Batavia, Ill.) and
Claire Davis (Trumbull, Conn.) led the Hawks with eight and seven kills respectively, with
Ava Mattiucci (North Kingston, R.I.) and
Emma Bosco (North Andover, Mass.) dishing out 13 and 12 assists.
Marianna Hernandez (Norwalk, Conn.) had 27 digs in the match.
The Jumbos led 18-14, late in the opening set when they tallied three straight to take a 21-14, Roger Williams would not be able to come closer than seven points, as the Jumbos closed out the set.
After a dominant second set by the Jumbos, who took the set 25-9, the Hawks responded, opening the third set with a 7-0 run. Tufts, trailing 10-4, rattled off six straight points to close the gap to one, but Roger Williams answered with a four-point run of their own to take a five-point advantage.
Holding a 24-19 lead late in the third set, Tufts cut the deficit to one, 24-23.
Angela West (Riverview, Fla.) then put a ball from Mattiucci down to earn the set-winning kill, cutting the match score to 2-1 in favor of the Jumbos.
After the Hawks took a 3-2 lead in the fourth set, Tufts again found a long run, scoring 11 straight to take a commanding 13-3 lead. With the Jumbos leading the set 22-11, three straight point closed out the game in favor of Tufts.
Roger Williams (5-2, 0-0 CNE) will take part in the Brandeis Invitational over the weekend, beginning with a match on Friday, Sept. 13 at Springfield. The Hawks will then take on Westfield State and Bowdoin on Saturday, Sept. 14.
