WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Junior Elizabeth Atkinson shut down the Wellesley Blue with seven blocks to lead the Bears to the win on the road in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play, 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-15, 25-19). With the win, Coast Guard improves to 15-5 (4-3 NEWMAC); Wellesley drops to 6-11 (0-7 NEWMAC).

Atkinson had six kills and a .273 kill percentage to go with her seven blocks. Three Bears had double-digit kills, with Shannon Shaw, Allie Wildsmith, and Noelle Tursky each recording 10. Sarah Somer and Carlee Lingle added eight and five, respectively. Kaela France and Carmen Zipf continue to serve well, as Zipf had four aces and France three. France had a match-high 30 digs, followed by Tursky with 12 and Laila Baameur with seven. Junior Maeve Duffin led the Bears with 19 assists; Tursky added 18.

The Bears found themselves down early in set one after a few errors gave Wellesley the lead, 9-4. However, the Bears fought back with Duffin and Zipf's serves, bringing the score to 11-11. Wildsmith got a kill and Shaw had two in a row to put the Bears up 16-14. Wildsmith added two more kills in a row on the serve by Vickie Mancine, before Atkinson recorded one of her blocks, giving Coast Guard the 21-17 lead. Wellesley would get as close as three with a kill from Kate Salembier, but Lingle had two kills in a row to close out the set, 25-20.

The Bears went down 0-3 in set two and never regained the lead. Despite a few good runs and plays by Coast Guard, Wellesley took the set, 25-21.

The Bears came out fierce in set three, with Zipf recording three of her aces on her first serves, giving Coast Guard a 5-0 lead. After the Blue got two back, France recorded two aces of her own to put the Bears up 9-2. Duffin set up Tursky for a kill before Wellesley had an ace and a kill of their own. It was then Wildsmith's serving run, helped by a few Blue errors, putting the Bears up by eight at 15-7. Serving runs by France and Tursky helped the Bears to the win, 25-15.

Set four had the Blue and Bears going point-for-point and a tie, 10-10. However, France was then up to serve and had no intentions of giving the Blue the ball back anytime soon. France served eight times, with kills from Atkinson, Wildsmith, and multiple from Tursky helping her along, giving the Bears the 17-10 lead. Wellesley fought but was unable to recover from the deficit, and with an Atkinson kill closing it out, the Bears won the set and match, 25-19.

The Bears are back in action on Saturday, October 15 as they take on non-conference opponent Endicott at home at 4 PM.