NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — 

They say revenge tastes sweet, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy volleyball team was able to verify that with Tuesday night's sweep of Smith College in first round action of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament. Coast Guard avenged their regular season loss to Smith by bouncing the hosting Bears from the tournament with set scores of 25-23, 25-23, and 25-20.

The title defense ends for the reigning NEWMAC champions, who finish the season at 19-12 overall and 7-4 in regular season conference play. Smith entered the season as the #2 team in the NEWMAC Preseason Women's Volleyball Coaches Poll and receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III National Coaches Poll.

Sam Ventimiglia (Key West, Fla.) and Amelia Matson (Mililani, Hawai'i) both put forth impressive two-way performances to lead Coast Guard through the night. Ventimiglia had team-highs of 12.0 points and eight kills, recording the latter on a .500 hit rate, with an ace and three solo blocks. Eight of those points came in the Bears' come-from-behind effort in set two, including five of the last seven points.

Matson had 10.0 points on seven kills and three aces, two of which came in a hot 4-1 start for Coast Guard in the third set. Smith hoped to avoid the Bears' star libero Laila Baameur (Bakersfield, Calif.) by targeting Matson in the back row, but the sophomore held her own to record a career-high 15 digs. Sharing the game-leading total with Baameur and Smith libero Ruth Tullis. The Bears won the night's dig battle by a slim 51-48 margin thanks the rest of the team adding 21 to Matson and Baameur's combined figure.

Neither team was able to take a clear upper hand in the first set until the hosting went on a five-point run fueled by kills from three different players to take a 17-13 lead, the largest margin of the set, but Coast Guard tied it back up with four straight of their own, including back-to-back kills from the arm of Matson. A kill by Addison Klunder took the next point back for the hosts, but the perseverant Bears made it 18-all again after Holly Davis (Sisters, Oreg.) picked up a kill to cap a long rally.

CGA's relentlessness was on full display again just a couple of points later when the backcourt duo of Courtney Shire (Cape May, N.J.) and Baameur came up with a pair of incredible digs on consecutive Smith attacks, with the second from Baameur turning into a huge Corey Lemmer (San Francisco, Calif.) to make it a 20-21 ball game. Abby Schweitzer (Emmaus, Pa.) put a bow on 23 with a kill of her own before Baameur clinched the opener by going back-to-back from the serving line.

Smith was either to bounce back in set two, and they showed this by taking an immediate 6-0 lead. Abby Hunt was all over the opening run, assisting Miranda Oakeson a pair of blocks and getting the sixth on a kill. The slow start forced the Bears to play behind for most of the set, but they chipped away at the deficit until a three-point run started a change in tides and forced a Smith timeout. Schweitzer had two of the three via kills, and some inspirational play by the Bears' heartbeat Baameur from the back line was igniting a fire under the rest of the team.

The flamed were fully stoked following the timeout, and Sarah Somer (Cary, N.C.) was the first to reap the effect by putting down a kill to knot it at 17. Smith took a point back, but Somer tied it again with a kill before Ventimiglia's took over. The junior put the Bears up two with consecutive solo blocks, and she made it a 22-19 game just a couple of points later by following Lemmer's kill with one of her own. Smith scored the next three, but a great dig by Baameur into the high-tempo set from Davis allowed the bic from Ventimiglia to shut down the rally. Another kill for CGA, this time by Matson, made it set point, and she'd give her team the 2-0 match advantage by responding to a Smith point with another kill.

Olivia Teske put the hosts in set three's scoring column first with a kill, but the Bears responded with four points of their own, thanks in part to Matson's consecutive aces. Unlike the second set, it was Coast Guard hovering around the 3-4 point lead the first half of the frame until a Smith four-point run tied it at 14. The teams would trade blows and leads over the next few points, but Coast Guard appeared to finally notch the upper hand at 20-18 after a pair of Abby Hunt attack errors, prompting a timeout from the hosts' bench. Smith got a point back following the break thanks to a Bears attack error, but the Bears proceeded made it match point thanks to stellar late-game play from Eloise Shirley (Rock Island, Ill.), who put down a kill and two block assists in the four-point run. Alison Chapin extended the game briefly for the hosts before Schweitzer send the Bears to the semifinals with a kill of her own.

Chapin was Smith's offensive leader, racking up a game-high 15.0 points on 14 kills and two block assists, while Hana Suzuki and Sky Higashikara powered the hosting offense with respective 15- and 13-assist nights, while Suzuki recorded three aces. An extremely-even match-up between the two sides did not disappoint, but Coast Guard's .225 team hit rate on the night was the difference maker down the stretch, edging out Smith's .196 attack percentage. Coast Guard also benefitted from a solid night from the serving line, picking up eight aces to the host's four.

Schweitzer had 7.5 points on seven kills and a block assists, with all seven of those kills feeling like they came in big moments. Coast Guard also benfitted from excellent postseason debuts by their three big freshman contributors of Lemmer, Davis, and Ava Ahokovi (Honolulu, Hawai'i). Lemmer had 7.0 points, all on kills with a .400 attack rate, while Davis and Ahokovi served up 29 of the team's 33 assists, going for respective marks of 15 and 14. Davis also had three kills, an ace, and five digs to continue her quietly impressive all-around play as of late.

Bears volleyball will take on the tournament's top overall seed and AVCA #12 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (25-3, 11-0) on Saturday. MIT also won their opening round match-up versus Wellesley in straight sets with scores of 25-19, 25-14, and 25-21. The Engineers will host both semifinal games on Saturday, with their match-up against the Bears schedules for 1 pm ET, and will host the championship game regardless of if they advance.