Box Score WELLESLEY, Mass. – Freshman Lauren Gedney had a match-high 15 kills leading third-seeded Wellesley to a 3-0 win over sixth-seeded Coast Guard in the quarterfinals of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tournament.
The Blue won by game scores of 25-23, 25-19, 25-19.
Coast Guard, making its 20th consecutive appearance in the NEWMAC tournament, finishes the season 16-14, its ninth straight winning season.
Wellesley improves to 21-5 and advances to the NEWMAC tournament semifinals on Saturday at top seeded MIT.
Sophomore Angelou Dunton led Coast Guard with 12 kills and to go with eight digs. Sophomore Makenna Martin team-high 14 assists while senior Michelle McGill led the Bears with 11 digs in the final match of her career.
The Blue built an early 8-3 lead in the opener, but the Bears would run off four straight and eight of the next 11 to pull even at 11-11. Wellesley would answer with four straight of their own for a 15-11 lead, but Coast Guard would score four of the next five cutting the deficit to 16-15. The Bears would eventually pull even 21-21, but Wellesley won the opener 25-23. Dunton led the Bears hitting .625 with five kills and five digs in the opening set.
Wellesley scored the first six points of the second set and jumped out to a 9-2 lead. Coast Guard would score five of the next seven to make the score 11-7. The Blue maintaining that four point lead at 18-14 would run off three straight for a 21-14 edge en route to the 25-19 win.
Coast Guard would hold an early 4-2 lead in the third before the Blue scored six straight for an 8-4 advantage. The Blue leading 11-7 would take control scoring seven of the next eight for a commanding 18-8 lead. Coast Guard would use a 5-1 spurt to close it to 19-13, but the Blue closed out the match with a 25-19 win.
Wellesley beat the Bears 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-15) in New London during the regular season.
The game marked the final game for three seniors who won 71 matches in their four years. Michelle McGill finished her career third all-time at the Academy with 1,564 digs, Madison Scott is eighth all-time with 283 blocks and Emma Saunders finished her career with 552 kills.
