MEDFORD, Mass. – After two tough sets, volleyball pulled off a huge rally in the third, but were unable to keep that momentum going as they fell to the Jumbos of Tufts University by the final of 3-1 Thursday evening at Cousens Gymnasium.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 1, Tufts University 3

UMass Boston (3-9, 1-1 Little East Conference)
Tufts University (8-3, 3-1 NESCAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Beacons offense struggled to get anything going in the first two frames, as they did not hit over .056.  The Jumbos would take advantage of that fact and earned a 25-18 win in the first and a 25-15 win in the second.

In the third frame, it looked as if though the Jumbos were going to earn the shutout victory, however the Beacons battled back to claim a 27-25 win.  UMass would carry some of that momentum into the fourth set, but were unable to see it all the way through, as the Jumbos, went on a late run to take the 25-20 victory.

Junior Julia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) led the Beacons with a .409 hitting percentage after putting down 10 kills on 22 attempts.  Colleen Koen (Centerville, Mass.) recorded a match-high 13 kills, while Eileen Shi (San Francisco, Calif.) scored 11 kills.

She would also record a career-high 22 digs in the four set loss to finish with her fifth double-double of the year.  Elizabeth Glavan (Edina, Minn.) put-up a team-high 23 digs, while Tufts' Maddie Kuppe recorded 31 digs in the non-conference win.

Setter Pepper Baker (Tallahassee, Fla.) finished with a combined 33 assists, second most of the 2015 season for the sophomore, while also tallying 10 digs to record the team's second double-double of the night.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Tufts University now leads the all-time series 6-5
• The win for the Jumbos marks just the second in the last five meetings
• Murphy's .409 hitting percentage marks just the second time that the All-American has hit over .400 in a match, the last was on September 16 against Endicott College (.478)

WHAT'S NEXT

The Beacons will host Wellesley College tomorrow at 6 p.m.