NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Senior Noelle Tursky and sophomore Kaela France filled the stat columns to lead the Bears to a sweep of New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opponent Mount Holyoke College in three sets (25-13, 25-17, 25-13) on Tuesday evening. With the win, Coast Guard improves to 13-5 (3-3 NEWMAC). Mount Holyoke drops to 6-8 (1-5 NEWMAC).

France led the Bears with a match-high 21 digs and five aces, while she also added five assists and two kills. Tursky had 20 assists, ten digs, six kills, one ace, and one block. Sophomore Shannon Shaw had a match-high 12 kills, while adding two assists and two digs. Freshmen Allie Wildmsith and Sarah Somer each added five kills, while sophomore Carlee Lingle had three. Laila Baameur had seven digs, with Carmen Zipf and Vickie Mancine adding five apiece and Caroline Pillers contributing three. Delaney Taplin-Patterson added a clutch diving dig, and Somer picked one up off a tip to round out the Bears' defense.

Junior Elizabeth Atkinson got the Bears on the board in set one with a kill from Maeve Duffin. Mount Holyoke went up 4-3 on a Coast Guard error, but that would be their last lead of the set. France went on a serving spree, placing eight between the lines. Wildsmith had two blocks, Shaw one, and France had two aces over the course of the serving run, giving the Bears the 11-4 lead. After a few Mount Holyoke errors, Tursky and Wildsmith had a block, and Tursky and Atikinson added kills, putting the Bears up 19-8. Two kills in a row by Marion Abeja gave the Lyons hope, but Duffin closed it out with her serve, 25-13.

Tursky aced the Lyons to start set two, and the Bears were rolling from there. With Baameur serving, France, Somer, and Shaw each had two kills, forcing a Mount Holyoke timeout with Coast Guard up 6-1. After a service error gave the Lyons the serve, the Bears got it right back with a Shaw kill. France had an ace, and then her serve set up back to back kills from Shaw and one from Wildsmith, putting the Bears up 12-2. The Lyons were able to go point for point with the Bears, bringing the score to 15-5. A Lingle kill forced another Lyons' timeout. Mount Holyoke used that for momentum, stringing together a run of points, bringing them as close as 20-13. Duffin came back to serve again, acing the Lyons and then setting up Tursky for a kill. Mount Holyoke grabbed a few more points, before Tursky swung hard again for another kill, giving the Bears the win, 25-17.

Set three proved to be more of a battle, with the score even at 7. However, Wildsmith aced the Lyons, and the Bears forced two Mount Holyoke errors, going up 10-7. The Lyons scored two of the next three points, bringing the score to 11-9. However, it was then Mancine's turn to serve, putting the Bears in a good position for kills by Lingle and Shaw and a block by Atkinson. Mount Holyoke got one more with a Marianna Simon kill, but then France went on another serving run. Multiple Bears recorded kills in the run, including Shaw, Somer, Wildsmith and Mack Boose. After a Mount Holyoke timeout, another Shaw kill brought the score to 22-10. The Lyons blocked the Bears twice in a row, but then it was a kill from Sav Pearson to bring it back to Coast Guard. Claire Portigure stepped up to serve and bring it home for the Bears, 25-13, winning the set and match. 

The Bears are back in action on Friday, October 7, as they head on the road to take on the Hawks of Roger Williams University at 6 PM.