Volleyball Comes Up Short At Coast Guard, 3-1

BOX SCORE

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Freshman Nicole Johnson had 15 kills while senior Nicole Gurr had 13 kills, eight digs, four blocks and three aces leading Coast Guard to a 3-1 (24-26, 25-15, 25-23, 27-25) win over Babson in a key New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) match on Tuesday night.

Coast Guard (12-14, 5-3) now has the inside track on the fourth seed and a home game in next week's NEWMAC tournament while Babson drops to 14-10 overall, 4-4 in the conference which puts them in sixth place with one game left in the regular season. The Bears will host a home game in the quarterfinals, a rematch with Babson, if Wellesley beats Smith and Babson beats Clark on Saturday.

Babson had built a 10-5 lead early in the first set before Coast Guard scored 11 of the next 13 points for a 16-13 lead. The Bears led 23-20 before Babson ran off four straight to take the lead 24-23. Coast Guard fought off set point before the Beavers won the back-and-forth first set  26-24.

Coast Guard dominated play in the second set, jumping out to a 17-4 lead and winning 25-15. The third set was tied on 12 different occasions before Babson scored three straight for an 18-16 lead. Coast Guard would respond with seven straight points, with freshman Katharine Martorelli serving, for a 23-18 lead. Coast Guard led 24-19 and Babson would fight off four straight set points before a Gurr kill gave the Bears a 25-23 win.

Babson jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the fourth set and led 15-8 before Coast Guard scored ten of the next 12 points to take its first lead of the set at 18-17. Babson had set points at 24-23 and 25-24, but the Bears scored the final three points to close out the match, winning the fourth set 27-25.

Senior Mary Bitzer added seven kills for the Bears, sophomore Jessica Anderson led the way with 12 digs and sophomore Ashley Bullard had a team-high 23 assists.

Junior Caitlin O'Neill led Babson with a match-high 19 kills, classmate Shanna Glassner led the way with 27 digs, and first-year Anna Belz had a match-high 37 assists.

NOTE: Taken from a U.S. Coast Guard Academy press release.