NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- The Bears lost on the road as they battled the Smith College Pioneers in tonight's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) match. The Bears lost the first two sets before taking a win in the third but eventually lost the match in set four (25-21, 25-19, 25-14, 25-18). With the loss, Coast Guard drops to 9-3, 0-2 NEWMAC, and Smith improves to 10-2, 3-0 NEWMAC.

Senior Noelle Tursky led the Bears with ten kills and 13 assists, and she led all players with five aces. Tursky and Freshman Allie Wildsmith had seven blocks apiece to lead all other players. Sophomore Kaela France led the Bears on defense with 14 digs to go with her four aces. Tursky and junior Carmen Zipf added eight and five digs, respectively. Junior Maeve Duffin assisted on 11 of the Bears 32 kills and added three aces and four digs.

Set one began with a good showing from both teams, with the score going back and forth and no team going up more than two points until the set was tied 11-11. With Sarah Dankovich serving, Smith went up 15-11 on kills by Claudia Poehlmann and Abby Hunt. Coast Guard got two back on a Carlee Lingle kill and a block from Elizabeth Atkinson and Lingle, but then Smith went on another run to go up 19-13. The Bears closed the gap to as few as three, but could not regain the lead and lost the set 25-21.

Smith began set two going up 3-0 on Dankovich's serve. From there, the teams exchanged points before the Bears capitalized on a Smith service error and bad set, as well as an ace from Wildsmith and a kill from Tursky to go up 6-5. Smith went on another run on multiple kills from Mia Moscicki to take the lead and push to 13-8. The Pioneers kept the lead through a late set push from the Bears, who used Tursky and Wildsmith kills to bring the score within three at 22-19. However, Smith was able to hold on and take the set 25-19.

Set three started with a big block from Tursky and Wildsmith to put the Bears up 1-0. After a kill from Claire Portigue to tie the set 2-2, the Bears took the lead and never looked back. Tursky had a great serving run with four of her five aces to put the Bears up 10-3. Duffin had a small run of her own, helping herself to an ace and setting up Tursky for a kill putting the Bears up 16-8. Using attack errors from the Pioneers, freshman Vickie Mancine kept the serve and put the Bears up 23-13. Atkinson and Wildsmith each had a kill for the last two points, giving Coast Guard the set win, 25-14.

Duffin started the Bears off strong in set three with two aces on her serves to start 3-0. A back and forth set ensued, standing tied at 10-10. Coast Guard had a few errors on which Smith capitalized, going up 15-11. A Shaw kill got the Bears one back, but a Smith ace and kill put the Pioneers up 18-12. The Bears and Pioneers exchanged points for a few rallies, but Coast Guard could not overcome the deficit and fell to Smith 25-18.

The Bears are back in action on Friday, September 23 at 6 PM, as they take on the Jumbos of Tufts University in non-conference action.