South Hadley, Mass. - September 24, 2019 - The Mount Holyoke College volleyball team showed tremendous effort, but fell short of Coast Guard, 3-0, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play in Howard Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.

With the loss, the Lyons are now 2-10 overall and 0-3 in NEWMAC play, while the Bears improve to 11-3 on the year with a 3-0 mark against league opponents. Mount Holyoke College fell by the set scores of 15-25, 22-25, 10-25.

Senior Sasha Simine (Kitchener, Ont.) led the way for the Lyons with four kills on 13 swings, hitting .231, while both Sarah Bishop (Rutland, Mass.) and Marianne Simon (Miami, Fla.) tacked on three kills apiece. Chelsea Galicia (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) notched a team-best nine digs, while Bishop followed with eight, as Brayden Walden (McKinney, Texas) had a strong game, handing out seven assists to go along with seven digs. 

After Mount Holyoke College started the first set with a 2-0 advantage, the Bears rattled off six-consecutive points to take a 6-2 advantage over the Lyons. Simine then picked up back-to-back kills to pull Mount Holyoke College to within a pair, but Coast Guard would regain a 10-5 lead, which turned into a 13-6 margin midway through the set. A kill from Simon and another from Natasha Henry (Troy, N.Y.) brought it to within five points, but the Bears closed out the set on a 5-0 run to claim the 25-15 victory.

The Lyons showed off tremendous hustle and team play in the second set, as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the frame, before back-to-back kills from Coast Guard made it 8-6, visitors. Simine picked up another kill to make it 8-8, before the Lyons erased a two-point deficit and took a 17-14 lead on a kill from Gabrielle Davis (Keller, Texas). With the game even at 19 apiece, Alexandra Keough (Endicott, N.Y.) picked up an ace but the Bears proved stronger, sealing the 25-22 set victory.

Coast Guard used its momentum in the third set, as it jumped out to a 9-2 lead to force a timeout from the Lyons bench. Coming out of the timeout, the Bears went on a 6-1 run to take a 15-3 advantage. Henry picked up another kill to make it 15-4, but then Coast Guard opened up a 23-8 lead, before sealing the 25-10 set and the 3-0 win.

Up next, Mount Holyoke College will travel to Worcester, Mass. on Thursday, September 26 and will take on Anna Maria at 7 p.m.

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