NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy volleyball team got back in the win column on Tuesday with a straight set victory in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play over Wellesley College. Coast Guard won each set by scores of 25-10, 25-19, 25-17

The Bears improve to 10-5 on the season and 2-3 in conference play, while Wellesley moves to 7-7 overall and 2-3 in the NEWMAC. Wellesley avoided straight set losses in their previous three defeates heading into Tuesday night. The Blue will look to bounce back with a victory over Brandeis University (6-11) on Thursday.

Leading the way on both sides of the net was Sarah Somer (Cary, N.C.), who stepped on to the court for the first time since sustaining an injury during the Bears' September 20th game at the University of Hartford. The senior captain put down seven kills on .294 hitting and used all of her 6-foot, 3-inch frame to record two solo blocks and three block assists for a team-leading 10.5 points.

Coast Guard recorded 34 assists on the night, thanks mostly to a combined 27 feeds from the freshman duo of Ava Ahokovi (Honolulu, Hawai'i) and Holly Davis (Sisters, Oreg.), who finished the night with respective totals of 17 and 10. Somer's fellow leader Laila Baameur (Bakersfield, Calif.) recorded a game-high 14 digs with one reception error.

Clearly motivated by last season's 2-3 loss at the hands of the Blue, Coast Guard wasted no time in establishing a 12-3 lead to open the first set and prompt an early timeout from their guests. Wellesley scored following the break, but the hosts kept control of the game and eventually reached a 20-6 lead following back-to-back kills by Somer. The teams traded scores before Somer and the team's third captain, Mack Boose (Camden, N.C.), teamed up for a block to put it at set point. The Blue took a point back before Sam Ventimiglia (Key West, Fla.) clinched the 1-0 match lead with a kill.

Wellesley rebounded to start the second, getting out to a 7-2 lead to force a timeout from the hosting bench. The sides went 3-2 in the Blue's favor coming out of it before Coast Guard stormed back on a ten-point run to flip the set on its head at 14-10, punctuated by a rare kill from Courtney Shire (Cape May, N.J.) and a not-so-rare one from Amelia Matson (Mililani, Hawai'i). The teams went back-and-forth for the remainder of the set before a kill by Matson from Davis and a service ace from Ventimiglia gave Coast Guard a 2-0 advantage on the night. Shire was all over the big Bears run, recording each of her match-high three aces during the scoring streak.

Coast Guard started set three on another run, picking up six straight points before Wellesley got on the board via service error. Coast Guard still held a commanding 15-9 lead later on before the Blue went on a six-point run of their own to tie it up. Head coach Mark Thomas called a timeout to talk it over with his team, and it was dominance for the Bears after that. Coast Guard outscored the visiting side by a 10-2 margin to clinch the match.

Wellesley was hampered by five attack errors during that closing run, three of which were caused by blocks. Eloise Shirley (Rock Island, Ill.) started it off with a kill and recorded a solo block just four points later, and Somer followed a Blue point with a kill of her own before joining Ventimiglia to meet an opposing attempt at the net after another Wellesley score. Dylan Elferdink (Hernando Beach, Fla.) earned credit on three points during the run by notching two kills and playing a part the final point through a three-person block with Davis and Matson.

Matson had a team-high eight kills to with her two block assists, putting her at 9.0 points, while Ventimiglia put down four alongside her ace a solo block for 7.0 points while also getting credit for an assist. Ventimiglia was part of a larger excellent serving effort for the Bears, who recorded nine aces with their tries from the line. Part of that effort, next to Shire and Ventimiglia, were a pair from Ahokovi and Davis and one from Baameur.

Coast Guard hit .269 as a whole in the victory while keeping their guests at .033, including a -.033 performance in the first set. Next to the aces, the Bears had a season-high 10.5 total blocks, taking advantage of an undersized Blue squad. The team had 43 dogs on the night, including eight from Shire, seven from Matson, and five from Davis to go along with Baameur's effort. The Bears entered the game as the top team in the NEWMAC in digs per set (17.35), a stat which Baameur has been leading individually (5.45) while ranking third in total digs (229).

Bears volleyball will return to the court next Tuesday in a 7 p.m. match at Springfield College (16-2, 5-0). Coast Guard took last season's regular season match-up with the Pride, 3-1, but the Springfield got their revenge in the postseason by knocking the Bears out of the NEWMAC Tournament with a 3-1 win of their own. Matson recorded a combined 29.5 points across both contests, putting down 15 kills in the regular season match-up and 14 with a block assist in the postseason.