NORTON, Mass. --

After dropping back to back matches earlier in the week to Springfield and Conn, Coast Guard got back on track today with a 2-0 day at the Wheaton College Invite. The Bears defeated Wheaton 3-0(25-22, 25-16, 25-23) in a key league morning matchup before beating Framingham State 3-1(25-17, 25-14, 25-27, 25-15) in the middle match of the day in Norton.

In the first match of the day vs Wheaton, the Bears led nearly all the way through. The Lyons showed superb resilience however, losing by just three in set one and two in set three despite never leading past 1-0. 

The sweep over Wheaton was a true synergistic effort by the Bears. They had six women record over three kills, Sam Ventimiglia(Key West, FL) leading the way with eight at a .727 attack percentage. Feeding the CGA attack was the stellar freshman tandem of Holly Davis(Sisters, OR) and Ava Ahokovi(Honolulu, HI) who each had 13 assists, with Laila Baameur(Bakersfield, CA) and Courtney Shire(Cape May, NJ) adding two and one respectively. Baameur led the Bears defense in digs with 15, Amelia Matson(Mililani, HI) just behind her with eight, and six others with at least one.

At the net, Eloise Shirley(Rock Island, IL) led with four blocks, just ahead of Abby Schweitzer(Emmaus, PA) with three, and Sam Ventimiglia & Sarah Somer(Cary, NC) who each had two.

Wheaton College would go on to defeat Framingham State in the afternoon cap to bring their overall record to 9-13(1-6 NEWMAC). They will next face Clark University on the road, Tuesday October 21st at 7:00 PM.

After spreading the wealth in the first match, the story of the 3-1 victory over Framingham State was dominating performances by some of the Bears stars. Senior pin attacker Sarah Somer set a new career high in kills with 18 vs the Rams. She also led all hitters with a .516 attack percentage. Sam Ventimiglia, Amelia Matson, and Abby Schweitzer were the others in double figures in kills.

Also setting a new career high this afternoon was Ava Ahokovi who recorded 36 digs, breaking her previous best of 33 which she had done twice this season. Holly Davis was second on the squad with 14, with Sophia Rosenberg(Hershey, PA) adding six.

Laila Baameur led all players in digs at 26, just shy of her career high of 30 which she set earlier this week vs Conn College with Amelia Matson second on the team with 12. Third in digs was Courtney Shire who delivered an all-around performance for the Bears with seven digs, one ace, one kill, and one block. 

Leading in blocks vs Wheaton was Sam Ventimiglia with four. The junior middle also led all players with six aces this afternoon. She is just the 12th woman in Coast Guard history to reach six aces in a match and the first since 2025 graduate Kaela France did so in 2022.

With the sweep today, Coast Guard improves to 12-7(3-4 NEWMAC). The Bears will be back home after three straight on the road this week to face Salve Regina on Tuesday October 21st at 7:00 PM.