DUDLEY, Mass. –
In a road Tuesday road battle at Nichols College, the Bears swept the Bison 3-0(25-8, 25-17, 25-14). Nichols College(3-8) will next host Westfield State and SUNY Delhi for a tri-match.
At the start of set one, the Bison and Bears traded blows with ties at 1-1, 2-2, and 3-3. From there, CGA took the lead but Nichols hung around until a 13 point run gave CGA a 21-7 lead. They would go on to win set one by a score of 25-8 on a
Sam Ventimiglia(Key West, FL) kill. The Bears were dominant in the first. Despite recording just three blocks as a team, the quartet of Ventimiglia,
Sarah Somer(Cary, NC),
Eloise Shirley(Rock Island, IL), and
Corey Lemmer(San Francisco, CA) were unstoppable on the net, sending attack after attack back towards the Bison. As a team, the Bears capitalized when they should've, taking advantage of 14 Nichols College errors.
In the second, the Bison came out firing, opening up a 4-1 lead before two errors, two Ventimiglia kills, and a ferocious
Sarah Somer kill forced Nichols to take a timeout trailing 6-4. The Bison would come out of the timeout strong, tying the score at both 6-6, 7-7 and 11-11. CGA would open up a lead on the back of
Julia Gallinger(Garrison, NY). After coming off the bench and immediately recording a kill in set one, she recorded her second to give the Bears a 14-12 lead in set two before going on a three point service run including an ace to give Coast Guard their first lead of over three at 17-12. After the Bison again fought back to cut the Bear lead to three at 20-10, CGA notched the final five points in a row with
Sam Ventimiglia serving to open up a 2-0 lead.
In the third, Coast Guard led from the jump, opening up an early lead and never relinquishing despite the Bison comeback efforts. One of the early points came on an ace from hired gun off the bench
Mary Grace Delfino(Alpharetta, GA) who is making a name for herself with her prowess at the service line. The junior from Georgia now has five aces this year in as many sets played.
Coast Guard would open up their biggest lead thus far in set three at 18-11 after
Dylan Elferdink(Hernando Beach, FL) and
Sarah Somer kills. On Elferdink's, she floated through the air, contorting her body to earn a kill before Somer struck a heat seeking missile passed the Nichols defense. Two points later, Somer would get her name in the box score in an unlikely fashion when the 6-3 senior with six career assists going into today notched her 7th when she found
Sam Ventimiglia for the kill. In the end, an
Abby Schweitzer(Emmaus, PA) kill sent the Bears home victorious 25-14.
In the sweep,
Sarah Somer led all players with 10 kills. Just behind were
Dylan Elferdink(8) and
Sam Ventimiglia(7).
Ava Ahokovi(Honolulu, HI) had 18 assists with seven other women recording at least one.
On the defensive side, reigning NEWMAC defender of the week
Laila Baameur(Bakersfield, CA) was stellar again with 19 digs and no reception errors.
Courtney Shire(Cape May, NJ) was the other Bear is double figures with 10.
Coast Guard will host Roger Williams Thursday September 18th at 6:00 PM.
