NORTHAMPTON, Mass.  -  The Coast Guard Academy women's volleyball team lost to Smith College, 1-3, in a Tuesday night NEWMAC match-up. Coast Guard moves to 17-8 (6-4 NEWMAC) while Smith improves to 26-5 (9-1 NEWMAC) as both teams look ahead to their final games of the regular season.

Smith has played to national recognition this season, receiving votes in the most recent ACVA/TARAFLEX Division III women's volleyball revealed earlier in the day. The Pioneers outperformed Coast Guard in nearly every team stat in the game, holding advantages in attack rate (.305 to .207), kills (71 to 42), and digs (70 to 50); The Bears tallied more blocks than their hosts, building eight walls to Smith's five.

First-year pin attacker Amelia Matson (Stafford, Va.) converted 15 kills on 32 attempts for a .375 attack rate and 15 points, bringing her season kill total to 189. Matson's performance also brings her to 124 kills vs. NEWMAC opponents, ranking her eighth in the conference and tops among first-years.

Coast Guard led by one point in the first game at 17-16 before Smith went on an eight-point tear to set up match point. A pair of kills by Matson cut into the deficit before a kill by Pioneers outside hitter Mia Etheridge claimed the set for the hosts. Set two went similarly, with the teams playing to a tie at 15 points before Smith converted four kills and benefited from a Bears attack error to go up 20-15. Two points for Coast Guard by sophomore middle blocker Eloise Shirley (Burke, Va.) and Matson would be the only interruptions towards Smith's eventual win of the set.

Shirley was nothing short of impressive defensively on the net for Coast Guard, tallying two solo blocks and two block assists, bringing her respective totals on the season to ten and 71. Shirley's play vs. NEWMAC opponents has also put her among some of the best in the conference, currently tied for fourth in solo blocks with six rejections and leading the league in block assists with 36.

The third set was as back-and-forth as it comes, with neither side able to get out to a lead greater than three points for the majority of play. Coast Guard would break the pattern by going up 23-18 late, but four unanswered points by Smith would get the difference back to one. Senior pin attacker Shannon Shaw (Torrance, Calif.) would cool the hosts with a kill, and the two teams would play to a 25-point tie just a few rallies later. The Bears would get the set-point opportunity after an attack error by Smith outside hitter Abby Hunt and took it with a clinching kill from sophomore middle Samantha Ventimiglia (Key West, Fla.).

Shaw was another key contributor on the scoreboard for Coast Guard, converting 11 kills to go along with a service ace and a solo block for a 13-point night, along with a team-leading 12 digs. Her performance puts her at 229 kills this season and 126 vs. NEWMAC teams, the latter of which slots her at a shared sixth spot among conference players. Shaw is also eighth in total points vs. NEWMAC opponents with 138, while Matson is just behind her in ninth with 131.

Ventimiglia tallied 6.5 points on five kills, a solo block, and a block assist. It was her most points and kills in a game this season since her performance at Emerson College on October 19th, when she had nine points on eight kills and two block assists.

Coast Guard looked to carry their winning momentum to the fourth set, but the Pioneers would go up 10-5 early on. Smith would keep their visitors from getting back within four points until it was 23-20 in the hosts' favor after three straight Coast Guard scores. A bad set for the Bears gave Smith the match-point opportunity, and a kill by Etheridge on the next point would end it there.

One more top performer for Coast Guard was sophomore setter Sophia Rosenberg (Lebanon, Pa.), who racked up 30 assists without a handling error. It was Roseberg's 13th straight game with at least 30 assists, bringing her season total to 685 and her total vs. NEWMAC teams to 361, putting her third overall on the NEWMAC leaderboard in assists vs. conference opponents.

The Bears have just two more matches on their schedule this season, but they'll be played on the same day as part of the team's Senior Day Tri-Match on Saturday, November 9th, in Alumni Gym at Roland Hall. The first match of the day is against Clark University at 11 a.m., a face-off the results of which could change either team's conference tournament seeding. Clark will enter the day with a 13-10 (6-4 NEWMAC) record and sitting just one spot behind Coast Guard at sixth place in the conference standings.

If Coast Guard wins, they'll keep the fifth seed; if Clark wins, they could jump as high as the third seed, pending the result of Babson College's match with Springfield College, the former of whom the Cougars have a head-to-head win against. With a loss, Coast Guard could fall as low as seventh place, pending the result of Wellesley College's match at Mount Holyoke College, the former of whom holds a head-to-head win over the Bears.

Coast Guard's second match of the day and regular season finale will be against Brandeis University at 3 p.m. The Judges are 14-11 and won last year's game in Waltham, Mass., by a score of 3-1.