Blue Volleyball Takes 3-1 NEWMAC Road Victory at Coast Guard

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Junior Lauren Gedney (Huntersville, N.C.) had a match-high 21 kills as Wellesley College volleyball earned a 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22)  New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) road victory over the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on Tuesday night at John Merriman Gymnasium.

Wellesley has now won 11 consecutive matches to improve to 16-3 overall and remains alone atop the NEWMAC standings with an 8-0 record. The Bears drop to 14-7 overall and 4-3 in conference play.

Sophomore Nicole Doerges (San Marino, Calif.) added 15 kills and nine digs while classmate Izzy Seebold (Concord, N.C.) led Wellesley with 13 digs and 42 assists. Both Doerges and Seebold had three aces to lead the Blue. First year TylerBell Smith (Frisco, Texas) had a match-high six blocks for Wellesley in the win. Senior Meghan Shoop (Cypress, Calif.) totaled 10 digs and junior Nikki Jensen (Castro Valley, Calif.) chipped in with eight kills. 

Senior Angelou Dunton (Seattle, Wash.) led the Bears with 13 kills and eight digs. Sophomore Amanda Dake (Victor, N.Y.) had a match-high 15 digs and added nine kills. First year Noelle Tursky (Fort Myers, Fla.) paced Coast Guard with 25 assists, while junior Veronica Hine (Virginia Beach, Va.) added 14 digs.

Wellesley seized control of the opening set, taking an 11-4 lead on ace from Molly Likes (Oklahoma City, Okla.). The Blue pushed the advantage to 24-18 before Coast Guard held off the end of the set for four straight points before falling, 25-22. In the second set, Coast Guard broke free to take a 19-16 lead, but Gedney helped power the Blue to nine straight points to end the set, putting down four kills during the run as the Blue took the set, 25-19. 

Coast Guard extended the match to a fourth game with a 25-22 victory in the third set. The Bears used a 7-2 run to grab a 15-10 lead midway through the frame. Wellesley got within two points late, 20-18, but could not rally past the Bears as Coast Guard cut the Wellesley lead in the match to 2-1. 

Trailing 14-13 in the fourth set, Wellesley scored seven of the next eight points in the match to take a 21-14 lead. The Bears battled back to cut the Wellesley lead to one, when Dunton capped a six point run with an ace to make the score 23-22. However, a Dunton service error and Doerges kill end the match in Wellesley's favor, 25-22.

Both teams return to the court on Friday night, October 18, at 7:00 PM. Wellesley will travel to Amherst for the first night of the Hall of Fame Invitational and Coast Guard will take on local rival Connecticut College.