SPRINGFIELD, Mass. –

For the third consecutive season, Coast Guard fell in the NEWMAC tournament at the hands of Springfield College. The Springfield Pride will next host Smith College in the NEWMAC semifinals.

The Bears and Pride began the evening exchanging leads with neither able to make a sustained run. When Springfield took their first timeout trailing 11-10 there had already been eight ties in the set. In all there were 12 ties in the set until Springfield finally took control at 15-15. Notted up at 15, the Pride took over. Until Springfield took an 18-15 lead on a Morgan Stafford(Corbett, OR), neither team had led by more than two points. From there it was all Springfield with the Pride ultimately winning set one 25-18. 

In set two, the Bears played from behind from the jump. They kept chipping away, cutting the Pride lead, but could never catch them. They were the closest at 19-18, forcing Springfield to call a timeout but the Pride came out of the timeout and scored the next four points. Springfield would go on to lose 25-22 and head to set three trailing 2-0. 

Set three started off much like the first, with the teams exchanging punches and trading leads. Like set one, neither squad led by more than two points early on. The Bears however, took a 10-7 lead on a highlight reel play from freshman Amelia Matson(Stafford, VA). Matson, typically in the box score for her hitting, got to play the role of setter for a point when she ran nearly into the stands to save the ball and set it to fellow Eloise Shirley(Burke, VA) who tapped the ball over for the kill. After Springfield used a timeout at 10-7, they came out on fire, retaking the lead from the Bears at 13-12. 

Coast Guard would storm back to tie the score at 14-14 but the Pride attack led by senior Riley Donahue(South Windsor, CT) took charge and gave the Pride their largest leads of the night at four. The Bears however would not back down, fighting with their backs against the wall, they stormed back to tie the score at 20-20 and then again at 23-23. Coast Guard would get to set point at 24-23 and 25-24 before finally securing the set victory at 27-25. 

Like they did late in set three, if the Bears were going to win they would have to do so in comeback fashion, trailing 8-2 early in the fourth. Coast Guard had numerous comeback attempts, cutting the lead to as few as one but when Coach Thomas used his second and final timeout, the Bears trailed 15-9. Out of the timeout, CGA yet again refused to back out, forcing Springfield to use one of their own at 18-14. Out of the timeout, sophomore setter Sophia Rosenberg(Lebanon, PA) got her third straight ace to cut the Pride lead back down to three. The Bears would force another Springfield timeout, again cutting the deficit to three at 22-19. The Pride would score the next two points to get to match point. The Bears would score the next two but would ultimately lose 25-21. 

For Coast Guard, this concludes another successful season. The Bears say goodbye to three highly accomplished seniors: Kaela France(Calhan, CO), Carlee Lingle(Schertz, TX), and Shannon Shaw(Torrance, CA).