WESTFIELD, Mass. –

After dropping two straight close matches vs ranked opponents at the Captains Classic in Virginia Beach, Coast Guard got back in the win column today with a commanding 3-0 victory at Westfield State. For the Owls of Westfield State, they fall to 0-4 to begin their 2025-26 campaign and will next travel to Providence, Rhode Island on Saturday to face off with Emmanuel and Rhode Island College in a tri-match hosted by RIC.

In set one, Westfield State took an early 2-1 lead but after CGA tied the score at 2-2 they went on a six point run with Sam Ventimiglia(Key West, FL) serving. Ventimiglia had two aces and Sarah Somer(Cary, NC) had two kills in the six point run. From there, the Bears would cruise to a 25-12 victory, capped off with a kill by freshman hitter Corey Lemmer(San Francisco, CA), her third of the set.

Set two began with a bang for the Bears with back to back blocks by Dylan Elferdink(Hernando Beach, FL) and Sam Ventimiglia. Later on, the freshman Lemmer and senior Mack Boose(Camden, NC) would join the block party with rejections of their own to put CGA up 10-6. After an Owl kill made the score 10-7, the Bears took off. Consecutive kills by Elferdink and three straight aces from libero Laila Baameur(Bakersfield, CA) sent the Bears into the first timeout of the set with a commanding 15-7 lead. Out of the timeout, Coast Guard would get their fourth block of the set when Ventimiglia and Lemmer again combined for the point. 10 points later, Dylan Elferdink would put on the finishing touches on a 25-10 win with the Bears fifth block and her fifth kill of the set.

The beginning of the third set belonged to a pair of juniors: Eloise Shirley(Rock Island, IL) and Mary Grace Delfino(Alpharetta, GA). Shirley had back to back kills to give the Bears their first two points before Delfino had back to back aces.

Westfield would storm back to take the lead at 6-4 and hold onto it until 10-8 when Abby Schweitzer(Emmaus, PA) had back to back kills to tie the score before an attack error and Courtney Shire(Cape May, NJ) ace put Coast Guard up two. The Owls would again fight back to tie the score at 14 but a booming block by Shirley and kill by Sarah Somer gave the Bears control again. They would ultimately hang on to win set three 25-19 on Abby Schweitzer's sixth kill of the afternoon.

Despite only playing in two sets, it was sophomore Dylan Elferdink who left her mark on the Bears winning effort with a career day. Dylan tied for the CGA lead in points with 9.5, while adding eight kills and two blocks, all of which set new career highs. 

Tied with Elferdink for the lead in points was Sarah Somer who led the Bears in kills with nine. Behind Somer and Elferdink were Amelia Matson(Mililani, HI), Corey Lemmer, and Abby Schweitzer who had six each. 

After a stellar weekend in Virginia Beach, junior defensive specialist Courtney Shire again showed the willingness to lay her body on the line with diving effort after diving effort to lead all players in digs with 11. The dynamic duo of Shire and Baameur combined for 20 digs on the day and is spearheading the Bears current top 10 ranking nationally in digs per set.

Sophia Rosenberg(Hershey, PA) led a group effort on the assist front for the Bears with 13. Behind her were three freshmen: Ava Ahokovi(Honolulu, HI) with eight, Alaina Corbin(Fredericksburg, VA) with six, and Maddie Oates(Rome, GA) with three.

Coast Guard will get back at it next Tuesday September 9th, with a 6 PM match at Merchant Marine. This is Coast Guard's first chance in the 2025-26 campaign to get on the board towards the Superintendent's Trophy, in which the Bears have won 11 straight. View past Superintendent's Trophy results HERE.