Box Score BABSON PARK, Mass. – Coast Guard could not capitalize on set point in the opening set and the fifth-seeded Bears upset bid of fourth-seeded Babson came up short as the defending New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) champion Beavers beat Coast Guard 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the NEWMAC tournament.
The Beavers caught fire midway through the third set and won by scores of 29-27, 24-26, 25-16, 25-8.
Coast Guard saw its streak of 14 straight appearances in the NEWMAC semifinals come to a close finishing the season 19-10 while Babson improves to 25-8 and will take on top-seed and host MIT on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the semifinals.
"Im proud of the progess that we made as a program this season," said head coach Mike Bynon. "We as a coaching staff have big ambitions as to where we think this program can be and we are going to do the work in the offseason so that we come back next season and compete with great programs like Babson."
Junior Susan West led the Bears with nine kills and 14 digs. Sophomores Madison Scott and Emma Saunders each added seven kills for the Bears while Scott had a team-high four blocks. Senior Maggie Hine had a match-high 28 assists.
In the opening set, Babson led 14-10 before the Bears ran off five of the next six to tie it 15-15. The Beavers responded with three straight points and later led 19-16 when the Bears scored four straight taking the lead 20-19 on an ace by sophomore Michelle McGill.
Coast Guard had a pair of set points leading 24-22 before the Beavers scored three straight for their own set point, but the Bears would fight off a pair of set points to tie it 26-26 on a kill by sophomore Emma Saunders.
The Bears had yet another set point leading 27-26, but Babson would score the final three points to secure the opening set 29-27.
Coast Guard would score four of the first five points getting off to a quick start in the second set and the Bears led 15-9 forcing a Babson timeout. The Beavers would close to within 21-19 before two straight gave Coast Guard a 23-19 lead. Babson would rally scoring the next five straight to force a set point, but this time it would be the Bears who would score the final three points to even the match with a 26-24 win.
In the third set, Coast Guard led 13-10, but Babson would get hot scoring 15 of the final 18 points including the final six for a 25-16 win.
The Beavers did not cool off in the fourth set as they jumped out to a 14-3 lead
Senior Mary Donahue had a match-high 17 kills while hitting .484 and freshman Gizem Yilmaz hit . 842 and finished with 16 kills.
The game marked the final game in the career of seniors, Ashley Dumont, Maggie Hine and Emily Gilland which posted a record of 78-45 in their four years.
Dumont closes out her career with 249 blocks, eighth best at the Academy while registering 898 kills, 13th on the Coast Guard Academy all-time list.
Hine finished with 2,821 assists, fourth best in Academy history.
