NEW LONDON, Conn. –

Going into tonight, Coast Guard had lost their previous five matches vs the Springfield Pride. That changed tonight in a rowdy Alumni Gymnasium with a huge CGA 3-1 NEWMAC victory for the Bears(23-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-19).

The loss this evening drops Springfield to 13-5(4-2 NEWMAC). The Pride will next host Mount Holyoke on Saturday at 12:00 PM. 

In the first set, the Bears made 11 errors in route to Springfield's 25-23 victory. Despite the errors, they led late in the set at 18-17 and fought back to 24-23 when a Pride kill finally ended the comeback. 

The second set was led nearly all the way by the Bears with Springfield's only lead being in a comeback effort at 22-21. The set was highlighted by a four point service run by Laila Baameur(Bakersfield, CA) which included three consecutive aces to give CGA a 12-5 lead. After Springfield fought back to take the lead at 22-21, Coast Guard beared down and capitalized on three consecutive Pride errors to get to set point. After allowing one more point, Shannon Shaw(Torrance, CA) put the finishing touches on the match tying victory with a kill. 

Set three was the most back and forth of all four sets with four lead changes. After the nail biting set two victory, Coast Guard dropped the first two and five of the first seven points to trail 5-2. They would score the next three and tie the set at 5-5 on a Courtney Shire(Bethlehem, PA) ace. The Bears would take the lead and run with it from there but at 10-7 the Pride appeared to catch their break. On an attack from a Springfield hitter, freshman standout Amelia Matson(Stafford, VA) appeared to block the ball in bounds for a Bears point but the referees called the block attempt out to cut the Springfield deficit to 10-8. CGA was able to thwart the Pride momentum and score 12 of the next 20 points to lead 22-16. At 22-16, all seemed to be falling apart for the Bears. Springfield scored five points in a row to cut the lead to just one when again a controversial call aided the Pride. On a long, chaotic volley, libero Kaela France(Calhan, CO) sent a ball over the net on an attack attempt. Much like Matson's block earlier in the set, France's ball appeared to hit the line in bounds but again the ball was ruled out and the Pride tied the score at 22. Springfield would take the lead on the next point after a CGA set error but the Bears would fight back yet again scoring three points in a row capped off by an Amelia Matson kill to take the 2-1 match lead.

In the fourth set, the teams showed their fatigue after three intense, hard fought sets. After CGA middle Sarah Somer(Cary, NC) got a kill for the first point of the set, the next 11 points would come on opposing team errors. While they led the entire set, Coast Guard appeared in danger of relinquishing it when the Pride got to just one point down at 10-9. With a Pride attack error and kills by Shannon Shaw and Sarah Somer, CGA took a 14-10 lead and the Pride took their final timeout. Coast Guard server Kaela France made sure the icing attempt would not be successful, serving an ace coming out of the timeout. The Bears would cruise to victory from that point. A booming kill to make the score 21-13 from sophomore middle Eloise Shirley(Burke, VA) sent the always raucous Coast Guard bench into a frenzy and later on an Amelia Matson kill put the finishing touches on the ever so important conference victory. 

The Bears stellar defense was led by Kaela France and Eloise Shirley. France had a match high 34 digs while Shirley was a menace at the net with six blocks. Shirley also had eight kills, just trailing teammates Amelia Matson and Shannon Shaw who had 15 and 13 respectively. The attack was facilitated by Sophia Rosenberg(Lebanon, PA) who had 39 assists.

Coast Guard, now 13-7(3-3 NEWMAC), will travel to Boston this Saturday for a tri match with Emerson and Nichols.