NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College volleyball team fell to Coast Guard by a 3-0 decision on Thursday evening. The Bears won by scores of 28-26, 25-23, and 25-20.
 
Connecticut College got off to a hot start and jumped out to a 4-0 advantage with junior Christina Leduc (Mendon, Mass.) serving. The Bears hung around and tied the score twice, but the Camels were able to pull back ahead, 19-16 on a kill by freshman Katherine Randall (Chicago, Ill.). Coast Guard, however, did not go away and jumped ahead by a 20-19 score by getting a kill and an ace from Amanda Dake to set up a wild finish. The Bears though eventually took the extended set on an ace by Maddie James.
 
The second set played out similarly to the first with the Camels starting strong and the Bears rallying from behind. Two consecutive kills by Dake gave the hosts the lead as part of an 11-3 run, and Connecticut College could not recover. An ace by Dake followed by a Sophia Galdamez kill gave the Bears the set win and control of the match.
 
With the momentum, Coast Guard took an early lead in the third set until the Camels tied it up at 7s on a Bear attacking error. The hosts, however, responded with Dake leading the charge to go ahead 10-7 and force the Camels to take a timeout. An ace by Cassie Thompson extended the margin to nine at 23-14 before James ended it with a kill.
 
Dake led Coast Guard (13-6) by registering a double-double with 14 kills and 11 digs. She also tallied three service aces and a .406 hitting percentage by committing only one error on 32 swings. Galdamez contributed 11 kills, nine digs and two blocks, while Noelle Tursky posted a double-double with 34 assists and 10 digs. Kaela France added 18 digs.
 
Leduc and Randall finished with eight kills apiece for Connecticut College, while Leduc also had 10 digs. Sophomore Natasha Shrivastava (San Diego, Calif.) fell just shy of a double-double with 25 assists and nine digs, and freshman Julia Dailey (Charlottesville, Va.) notched a game-high 23 digs.
 
Connecticut College (5-10) will next head to Framingham State to face the host Rams and Fisher College in a tri-match on Saturday afternoon.