SPRINGFIELD, Mass. –

After winning the first set, Coast Guard dropped the next three to fall 3-1 to Springfield College. Springfield stays hot with the win, having now won 15 matches in a row. Overall, the Pride are 18-2, 6-0 NEWMAC. They will next travel to MIT on Saturday at noon for a battle of the unbeatens in the conference. 

The Bears came out firing in the first set, forcing a Springfield timeout at 6-1. Senior tri-captain Sarah Somer(Cary, NC) was the star early for CGA with two kills and a block for three of the team's first four points. The sixth, timeout forcing point came from an unlikely combination, with middle Eloise Shirley(Rock Island, IL) showing off her setting ability, sending a perfect ball towards Abby Schweitzer(Emmaus, PA) who buried it for the kill.

Out of the first timeout, the Bears stayed white hot and opened up a 12-3 that was capped off by three consecutive aces by Laila Baameur(Bakersfield, CA), she would finish the day with a match high four aces. At 12-3, the Pride were forced to use their final timeout of the set and from there Coast Guard cruised to a 25-12 set one win. At set point, freshman sensation Ava Ahokovi(Honolulu, HI) called her shot and put the Bears up 1-0 in the match with a kill. In the impressive first, CGA had five blocks, five aces, and 11 kills while holding Springfield to a negative attack percentage. 

In set two, the Pride came out of the gate much like the Bears did in set one, scoring five of the first six points. Coast Guard stormed back to 5-4 however on kills from Schweitzer and Somer, and an acrobatic play from Laila Baameur in which she avoided contact with the ball mid dive and let it fall just inches out of bounds.

The first set two lead for the Bears would come at 8-7 after Sam Ventimiglia(Key West, FL) capitalized on a Corey Lemmer(San Francisco, CA) kill at 7-7 with her second ace of the day to grab the lead. From there, the teams would exchange blows with ties at 9-9 and 12-12 before Springfield took off and forced a CGA timeout at 18-14. The Pride hung on from there to a 25-17 lead to tie the match at 1-1. 

In the third, Springfield again jumped ahead early but the Bears capitalized on four Pride errors to tie the score at 5-5. After the early tie, the teams would be tied at 6-6, 7-7, 9-9, and 10-10 before the Pride took a slight three point advantage at 14-11, forcing a CGA timeout. Out of the timeout by Coach Thomas, Coast Guard fought right back, tying the set and forcing an SC timeout at 14-14 after kills by Amelia Matson(Mililani, HI) Sarah Somer, and a Pride attack error. Springfield came out of that timeout much like the Bears did on theirs and took an 18-15 lead into the Bears final timeout. CGA would fight back to 18-17, 19-18, and 21-20, after which Springfield called their final timeout. That 20th point for CGA was made possible by a miraculous diving dig by Courtney Shire(Cape May, NJ) to keep a point alive that would culminate with a Corey Lemmer kill. Unfortunately for CGA, as had happened the prior three times in the set after a timeout, the team who called it came out firing and Springfield held on to a 25-21 set win to send the Bears to set four on their last life trailing 2-1.

Set four was a heavyweight brawl between two of the NEWMACs finest. Springfield scored the first point and would hold the lead for the entire match but the Bears did not back down and fought the Pride all the way through. The first lead of more than two for Springfield came at 10-7 after the Bears tied the score at 1-1, 2-2, 6-6, and 7-7. After a timeout at 10-7, the Bears stormed back to tie for the fifth time in the set at 11-11 but again were unable to get that elusive lead-grabbing point. At 17-15, with the Bears still at their heels, Springfield finally took control. They scored eight of the next nine points to close out the set 25-16 and clinch the 3-1 match victory. 

The loss for Coast Guard drops them to 10-6(2-4 NEWMAC). They will go down the road tomorrow night at 6:00 PM to face Connecticut College.