NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College women's volleyball team hosted rival Coast Guard Academy on Thursday night, falling by a 3-1 final in non-conference action at Luce Field House.
Noelle Tursky (Fort Myers, Fla.) led the Bears with a match-high 21 kills while teammates Shannon Shaw (Torrance, Calif.) and Sarah Somer (Cary, N.C.) added 10 apiece. Maeve Duffin (Hawthorne, N.J.) tacked on a double-double of 26 assists and 16 digs as Coast Guard (17-6 overall) won by set scores of 21-25, 25-15, 25-22 and 27-25.
Riley Lord (Exeter, N.H.) paced the Camels with a season-high 16 kills on 34 swings, and
Christina Leduc (North Dennis, Mass.) and
Katherine Randall (Chicago, Ill.) each added seven kills.
Natasha Shrivastava (San Diego, Calif.) handed out a team-high 18 assists while
Julia Dailey (Charlottesville, Va.) led all players with 18 digs.
Conn grabbed the early 1-0 advantage thanks to 13 kills in the opening set, five of which came from Lord. The Camels took the lead for good at 9-8 following a kill by
Taylor Knott (Chapel Hill, N.C.), and later extended the margin to 20-14 behind five straight points on the serve of Randall. The Bears pulled within two down the stretch, but Lord supplied a pair of kills to wrap up the set.
An early 5-0 run put Coast Guard in front for the majority of the second set. The Bears held a 14-6 advantage in kills for the stanza, with Tursky contributing five to lead the charge.
After falling behind 6-0 in the third, Coast Guard came roaring back by winning 10 of the next 11 points to vault in front. Kaela France (Calhan, Colo.) served for seven points during the stretch, which left the visitors with a 10-7 lead. Conn stuck close and tied things up at 16-16 on a kill by Randall, only to see the Bears pull away with three straight points. Shaw provided the final kill to give the Bears the crucial 2-1 lead in the match.
The Camels didn't lead until late into the fourth, when a kill by Leduc and a pair of CGA errors yielded a 21-18 lead. The Bears battled back with a kill from Tursky and an ace by Carmen Zipf (Melbourne, Fla.), and later pulled ahead on an ace from France. Conn fought off a pair of match points—the first coming on a big block by Knott and
Emma Wheeler (Meredith, N.H.)—before Coast Guard secured the last two points on a kill and an ace by Somer.
Wheeler was a force at the net all night for the Camels, contributing to nine of the team's 10 blocks. The 10 blocks were also the most by Conn in a four-set match this season.
Conn College (7-11 overall) will next host Clark University on Saturday, October 22 at 2 p.m.
