WORCESTER, Mass.--

After falling to Clark at home last season, Coast Guard returned the favor with a 3-0 victory at Clark tonight. The Bears won the three by scores of 25-10, 25-21, 25-21. With the loss, Clark falls to 1-10 on the season, 0-3 NEWMAC. The Cougars will stay at home to face crosstown rival WPI on Saturday October 4th at 11 AM for their annual breast cancer awareness game.

Set one began with the teams exchanging the first four points before Coast Guard took a 3-2 lead that they would not relinquish. All of the first three CGA points came off kills from freshman hitter Corey Lemmer(San Francisco, CA). They would take charge of the set when a five point run brought the score from 4-3 to 9-3, of those five points, four in a row came on Amelia Matson(Mililani, HI) kills. She would finish set one with a team high seven kills. Towards the conclusion of the first, Julia Gallinger(Garrison, NY) had three consecutive aces to get the Bears to set point before freshman phenom Ava Ahokovi(Honolulu, HI) did her best impression of fellow Hawaiian Amelia Matson and closed the set out with a swing.

As a dangerous right arm off the bench, senior captain Mack Boose(Camden, NC) entered the action midway through the set and immediately got her name in the box score with a kill. She would finish the day with three kills and a block.

In set two, CGA started off slow but with Clark leading 4-3, the momentum turned in favor of the Bears. After freshman setter Holly Davis(Sisters, OR) kept the play alive with an acrobatic diving dig, fellow freshman Corey Lemmer was there to set the ball to Abby Schweitzer(Emmaus, PA) for the kill. 

After Clark bounced back within one of the Bears it was three straight points with stellar defensive play that gave the Bears a boost to take off. The dynamic backrow duo of Laila Baameur(Bakersfield, CA) and Courtney Shire(Cape May, NJ) each made incredible diving digs with Holly Davis again joining the party with another diving save of her own. Baameur and Shire each recorded assists in the three point run as well.

Clark would not go away in the second, cutting the Bear lead to just 21-18 and 22-19 late but a Clark error at 24-20 gave CGA the commanding 2-0 match lead.

Much like the 2nd, it was the Cougars who came out hot, scoring the first two points but a booming Mack Boose kill stopped Clark in their tracks and gave Coast Guard the momentum to take a 3-2 lead. Clark would again take leads at 4-3 and 6-5, 7-6, and 8-7 with the Bears tying it right back each time before taking a 9-8 lead and not looking back. 

Despite never losing the lead, Clark did make it tough on the Bears, cutting the score to 23-21 and forcing CGA to use a timeout. Out of the timeout, it was Dylan Elferdink(Hernando Beach, FL) and Ava Ahokovi who dealt the final blows with back to back kills to clinch the match and send Coast Guard home victorious. 

10 different Bears recorded kills with nine recording assists. Ava Ahokovi facilitated the Bear offense with 24 assists while adding two kills, one ace, and six digs. The trio of Matson, Lemmer, and Schweitzer led the attack with 10, nine, and eight kills respectively. 

The wealth was spread on defense too for the Bears, who had nine different women record at least one dig behind Laila Baameur who led with 17. At the net, Sam Ventimiglia(Key West, FL) led with two blocks while Alaina Corbin(Fredericksburg, VA), Abby Schweitzer, Eloise Shirley(Rock Island, IL), and Mack Boose each recorded one. For the freshman Corbin, it was the first block of her career.

The win improves Coast Guard to 9-4(1-2 NEWMAC). They will travel to Babson College on Saturday October 4th to face the Beavers at 2:00 PM.