BRIDGEWATER, Mass. –

In the battle of red hot Bears, Coast Guard came out victorious by a score of 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-22). The hard-fought win improves CGA to 6-2 on the year. The loss drops Bridgewater to 5-2, they will host Plymouth State on Saturday September 19th at 12:00 pm. Plymouth State is currently 6-3 after falling to Saint Joe's(ME) last night.

After an Ava Ahokovi (Honolulu, Hawaii) ace to begin the evening, Bridgewater and Coast Guard exchanged the next nine points before a perfectly placed Abby Schweitzer (Emmaus, Pa.) kill and back-to-back BSU attack errors finally gave CGA an advantage of more than one point. 

Bridgewater's first lead came at 11-10 and they extended to a 15-12 advantage at the first media timeout. Out of the timeout, the Bears kept chipping away. Sam Ventimiglia (Key West, Fla.) twice brought CGA within one and back-to-back Eloise Shirley (Rock Island, Ill.) tied set one at 19-19. Coast Guard's first lead since early in the set came at 21-20 and forced a BSU timeout. The timeout only seemed to fire up CGA however, with two Julia Gallinger (Garrison, N.Y.) aces and a Schweitzer kill put them at set point. The set was won by a score of 25-20 on Corey Lemmer (San Francisco, Cal.) kill, her team-high fourth of the set.

BSU notched the first point in the second set but the Bears answered back in unorthodox fashion when senior libero Courtney Shire (Cape May, N.J.) dove to keep a broken play alive and snuck the ball over the net before BSU made an error on attack. Set two took the form of an early back-and-forth slug fest with five ties before Bridgewater took a four point lead into the media timeout, a very similar situation as set one. Just like the set before, the Bears stormed back after the timeout, tying the score at 16-16 on four straight points highlighted by a Lemmer kill and Shire ace.

After ties at 17 and 18, Bridgewater took control of the set, taking a 21-18 lead and forcing a Coast Guard timeout. BSU maintained control out of the break and rode the momentum to a 25-20 set two victory.

In the third, the action started much like it did in the other two sets, as an evenly matched back-and-forth feud. This time however, it was Coast Guard who entered the media timeout with a 15-11 lead. Eloise Shirley showed off her full arsenal of skills early in the set. The senior middle recorded a kill, solo block, dig, and even recorded an assist with a perfect set to Julia Gallinger. Out of the media, CGA kept rolling and cruised to reach set point at 24-16 but four straight Bridgewater points gave Coast Guard a scare and forced a coach Thomas timeout call. Immediately out of the timeout, Gallinger put the Bears one set away from a match win with a kill.

The fourth set started with the longest rally thus far in the match, with CGA finally coming away with the point on a Corey Lemmer kill. What followed was much like the prior set, five ties and Coast Guard holding a slight edge at the first timeout. BSU would not let up, clawing back to tie the score at 16 and take an 18-17 lead but three straight points made Coast Guard the first to reach 20 and forced a Bridgewater timeout call. 

With Bridgewater threatening again at 22-21, a long rally culminated with an Alaina Corbin (Stafford, Va.) and Julia Gallinger block that sent the Bear bench into a frenzy and put all the momentum on the side of CGA. Moments thereafter, the Bears put the finishing touches on the match when a BSU error sent them home victors.

The Bears were led on offense by the dominant Corey Lemmer. The performance lands Lemmer in the CGA record book tied for 9th all time in single match kills with 20, while swinging at a .405 clip. She is the first Coast Guard player since 2019 to reach 20 kills in a match.  

Lemmer's impressive night could not have happened without her setter Ava Ahokovi, who had a match-high 23 assists. On defense, Courtney Shire and Julia Gallinger combined for 30 digs and locked down the back row for the Bears.

Coast Guard will travel to Roger Williams for a tri-match against the Hawks of RWU and the Worcester State Lancers.