NEW LONDON, Conn. –
In the home finale for the Bears 2026 season, Coast Guard won an exciting four-setter over Mount Holyoke (25-16, 22-25, 25-12, 29-27). The Lyons fall back under .500 with the loss at 10-11 (2-8 NEWMAC). They will close out their season on Saturday November 7th with a 12:00 PM home match vs Wheaton College.
In what could be her final career home match, senior pin attacker
Abby Schweitzer (Emmaus, Pa.) left her mark on Alumni Gymnasium with a performance to remember. Schweitzer was purely dominant, swinging at a .528 clip for a season and career high 22 kills. Her 22 kills mark the most by a Coast Guard player since all-American
Amanda Dake had 26 in 2019, with 22 good enough to stand alone in fourth all-time single match in Coast Guard volleyball history.
The Bears cruised to first set victory much thanks to 19 Mount Holyoke errors. The second looked to be going the same for CGA with leads of 8-1 and 19-9 before the Lyons woke up to go on a wild 16-3 run to shock the Bears and steal the second set.
In the crossroads third set, after what could have been a match-altering punch dealt by MHC, the Bears instead bounced right back and took control. They scored 12 of the first 13 points on their way to a 25-12 rout to put them one away from a match win.
That fourth set would be the gem of the evening, with the Alumni Gymnasium crowd getting treated to free volleyball past the 25th point. Leading nearly all the way through, the Bears had the first chance to put the fourth away with a 24-21 advantage. They were put in that winning position thanks to stellar front row play and numerous exceptional rally-saving digs by
Courtney Shire (Cape May, N.J.). As they showed in the second set however, Mount Holyoke had a flair for the comeback, scoring the next three points (all on kills) to stave off match point and tie the score at 24-24. A
Corey Lemmer (San Francisco, Calif.) kill gave the Bears their fourth match point of the set, but again the Lyons rallied back, this time with two points in a row to force a set point for themselves. Needing a stopper in a big way, the Bears got it from a most likely source, the star of the night
Abby Schweitzer, who fired a ball onto the court for a kill.
The Lyons, however, bounced back yet again to force set point before
Sam Ventimiglia (Key West, Fla.) tied it up again at 27-27. Ventimiglia would end the day with five kills swinging at .417. With the match flirting with reaching the hardly seen score of 30, the Bears sent to the line
Corey Lemmer. Out of subs, Lemmer would be asked to serve for the first time all match. She fired her first serve in and playing the back row for the first time all day, dug out the Holyoke attack, sending a perfect pass to
Ava Ahokovi (Honolulu, Hawaii), who assisted
Abby Schweitzer on a kill to give the Bears match point yet again and give Schweitzer her 22nd kill on the night. Abby, who was lighting up the radar gun all night with her attacks, took some off that final one, seemingly freezing in midair before placing the ball onto the open floor. With match point on the line, Lemmer handled the rest by herself with first career ace coming at the best possible time for the Bears.
Corey Lemmer was second on the squad in kills with eight.
Ellie Glover (Colorado Springs, Col.) was behind her with seven, playing a key role in the third and fourth sets. Feeding the Bear attack was
Ava Ahokovi with 23 assists,
Allie Jenkins (Dripping Springs, Tex.) with 13, and
Courtney Shire with nine. Shire was the team leader in digs with 14,
Julia Gallinger (Garrison, N.Y.) behind her with 13. Gallinger led the team in aces with her second match in a row delivering four.
At the net the Bears were lethal all night.
Eloise Shirley (Rock Island, Ill.) tied her career high of seven blocks with
Sam Ventimiglia and
Addison Krajicek (Aviano, Italy) just behind her with six and five respectively.
The win improves the Bears to 15-9 (5-5 NEWMAC). The win also solidifies their berth in the NEWMAC Volleyball tournament. The regular season will come to a close for Coast Guard on Saturday November 7th with a tri-match in Boston, Massachusetts vs the host Emerson Lions at 10:00 am and Brandeis College at 12:30.
