Blue Volleyball Earns 3-2 Comeback Win at Coast Guard

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Senior Sydney Carfagno had a season-high 23 kills and ten digs as Wellesley College volleyball rallied from two sets down to defeat Coast Guard, 3-2, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) match on Tuesday evening.

Wellesley improves to 15-10 overall and 5-4 in the NEWMAC while the Bears drop to 18-10 overall and 6-3 in league play.

Both Carfagno and classmate Caitlin Laughlin hit over .300 in the match, as Laughlin also added 16 kills. Sophomore Brooke Fieldman had 12 kills and 12 digs. Taylor Jais added a match-high 22 digs for the Blue. Sophomore Maddie Koh had a match-high 51 assists in the win to go along with 10 digs.

Coast Guard junior Ashley Dumont had a season-high 24 kills hitting .415 while sophomore Susan West added 12 kills for the Bears. Freshman Michelle Hernandez led Coast Guard with 27 assists to go with 11 digs.

Wellesley led 15-13 in the opening set before the Bears ran off seven of the next nine points for a 20-17 lead en route to taking the opener, 25-22.

The Bears jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set. Wellesley would get as close as one at 14-13, but Coast Guard would score eight of the next ten for a 22-15 edge before winning 25-18.

Wellesley scored seven straight points to erase an early deficit and take an 8-3 lead in the third set. The Blue led 9-6 and scored seven of the next nine points to extend their lead to 16-8 and stayed alive with a 25-16 win.

Coast Guard had a 15-14 lead in the fourth set before the Blue took the lead for good scoring four straight for an 18-15 lead. Wellesley led 19-18 and scored four straight pushing the lead to 23-18 and won 25-21 to force the fifth set.

The Bears again led in the fifth set before Wellesley scored three straight to erase a 9-8 deficit and take an 11-9 edge. Coast Guard answered with three straight of its own for a 12-11 lead, but the Blue would score the final four points to complete the 3-2 comeback win with a 15-12 victory in the deciding game. 

Both teams will close out the NEWMC regular season on Saturday at 1:00 PM. The Blue will host Springfield while Coast Guard will play play at MIT.