MEDFORD, MA (November 21, 2025) -- The No. 14 Tufts University women's volleyball team shook off a strong Kean University Friday night in Cousens Gymnasium, advancing to the NCAA Regional Finals Saturday with a four-set win over the Cougars with scores of 25-21, 20-25, 25-19 and 25-22.
The Jumbos (24-5) won their eight straight match with the win, while Tufts moves into their fourth NCAA Regional Final Saturday where they will take on No. 1 East Texas Baptist University at 5 p.m. inside Cousens Gymnasium. It is the first NCAA Regional Final for the Jumbos since 2022.
The offense was led by senior
Emma Norman, who finished with a career-high 13 kills on Friday night. The senior out of Houston, Texas hit a superb .357 for the contest, as it was the first match of her career with double-digit kills. Junior
Claire Castor also added another double-double of 11 kills and 11 digs for Tufts, the eighth of the season for the All-NESCAC First Team performer.
Another key to the win was the play from reserve
Bridget Lonergan, who came off the bench to finish with seven kills on 12 attempts in relief.
In the opening set, both teams had runs but the Jumbos posted four straight with an 18-16 lead to push ahead by six at 22-16 after a block by sophomore
Maiwenn Kamdje and senior
Julia Griffiths. Kean (30-6) battled back with four straight points, but Norman and Castor had kills to seal the set.
Kean controlled the second set to tie the match at one, but Tufts battled back in the third with its best hitting stanza of the match with a .367 hitting clip to regain the match edge at 2-1. The Jumbos had a 19-12 lead in the period, but five straight scores from the Cougars made it 19-18. Castor ended the spurt by KU with a kill, and the Jumbos scored the final five points of the period to clinch the lead.
In the fourth, Tufts was able to force the Cougars into nine hitting errors while leading the majority of the stanza to pick up the match victory. The set got close late on a late rally by the Cougars, as they pulled to within two at 23-21 but Tufts was able to stand tall for the win.
Kamdje added eight kills and five assisted blocks for the Jumbos, while junior Emma Heckm,an had six kills and two blocks.
Rianna Liu totaled another double-double with 28 assists and 14 digs, posting two kills and two assists, and
Ellery Clark finished with 18 assists as well. Sophomore
Matsa Shi contributed a match-best 17 digs for the Jumbos, and Griffiths posted five kills and a match-high six blocks.
Cayley Elena Morrison had 16 kills to lead the way for Kean, and Ashley Torok tallied 12 kills as well. Aspen O'Brien also had 36 assists and seven digs, while libero Madeline Dohogne had 15 digs and six aces.
Tufts and ETBU have played once before in program history, a 3-1 win for the Jumbos in 2014 at Colorado College in the East-West Classic.
--JUMBOS--
