Volleyball Drops Home Opener Against Coast Guard

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Coast Guard senior Sarah Somer (Cary, N.C.) totaled a game-high nine kills as the Bears took down Westfield State in straight sets (25-12, 25-10, 25-19) in the Owls home opener from the Woodward Center on Tuesday night.

The Bears doubled up the Owls in total kills on the match with Coast Guard piling up 42 to the Owls 21. Lauren Carnes (Westfield, Mass.) led the Owls with six kills while Emily Washkalavitch (Oxford, Pa.) was second with five kills. Dylan Elferdink (Hernando Beach, Fla.) followed Somer's effort with eight kills for Coast Guard.

Morgan Dority (Walpole, Mass.) paced all players with 16 assists as she increased her conference leading assist mark to 85 through four matches. Erica Majka (Agawam, Mass.) and Zurielys Rivera (Caguas, Puerto Rico) each recorded ten digs.

Sophia Rosenberg (Hershey, Pa.) had 13 assists for the Bears and Courtney Shire (Cape May, N.J.) posted a team-high 11 digs.

Coast Guard (2-2) jumped out to an early advantage in set one after scoring 11 of the first 14 points, a deficit the Owls would not be able to overcome. Six straight points, five on the service game of Amelia Matson (Mililani, Hawaii), closed the first set.

In set two, with the Owls trailing by three points, Coast Guard used another damaging scoring run to pull away in the middle set, registering 13 of the next 14 points to draw within two points of a set victory. Both teams traded points to finish the set with an Owls service error sending the Bears in front two sets to none.

Westfield inched out to a two-point lead in the middle of the third set after a block from Isabelle McElhiney (North Andover, Mass.) made it 10-8 in favor of the Owls. The Bears scored four unanswered points to take the lead, but Westfield fought back throughout the majority of the set, trimming the deficit to one point late after a Siobhan Meyer (Farmingville, N.Y.) kill. A pair of three-point bursts from the Bears would ultimately complete the sweep for the Bears, finished off by an Abigail Schweitzer (Emmaus, Pa.) attack.

Westfield State (0-4) will head back on the road for their next contest, a tri-match at Rhode Island College beginning against Emmanuel on Saturday at 1:00 P.M.