South Hadley, Mass. - October 5, 2021 - Senior right side Gabi Davis (Keller, Texas) posted a team-best six kills while Mar Simon (Miami, Fla.) and Sarah Bishop (Rutland, Mass.) chipped in five apiece, but the Mount Holyoke College volleyball team fell to visiting Coast Guard, 3-1, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play in Howard Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.
With the loss, the Lyons fall to 3-11 overall with an 0-7 mark in league play, while the Bears are now 12-4 overall with a 5-1 record against conference foes. Coast Guard prevailed by the set scores of 25-15, 25-17, 20-25, 25-12.
Junior Marion Abeja (Kumi, Uganda) also had an impressive showing for Mount Holyoke College, picking up four kills, seven assists and eight digs, while the combo of Chelsea Galicia (Altadena, Calif.) and Lucie Berclaz (Kyogo, Japan) collected 17 digs apiece. Junior middle McKenna Crosby (Jonesborough, Tenn.) also matched her career high in total blocks with seven.
Coast Guard was led by the dynamic duo of Amanda Dake, who registered a match-high 13 kills hitting at a .526 clip, and Sophia Galdamez, who notched 12 kills of her own. Noelle Tursky handed out 31 assists and added six kills and five digs for the Bears and Lauren Hatfield posted a match-high five service aces, including the final two points in the victory.
The visitors opened up an early 8-3 advantage following a kill from Elizabeth Atkinson, before the Lyons pulled back to within one following kills from Bishop and Davis and an ace from Abeja. Leading 16-14 midway through the frame, Coast Guard opened a six-point lead following a pair of attack errors from Mount Holyoke before sealing the first-set victory with kills from Destiny Johnson and Dake.
Mount Holyoke got off to the hot start in the second frame, taking a 6-5 lead on a kill from Bishop before the Bears committed three-consecutive attack errors to grant the Lyons a 9-5 advantage. From there, Coast Guard quickly erased the deficit behind the tough serving of Tursky to give the visitors an 13-9 lead, before opening a 21-12 win on kills from Johnson and Shannon Shaw. Mount Holyoke College rallied as Galicia and Berclaz both delivered service aces late in the set but back-to-back kills from Mary Sweet and Tursky finished the 25-17 victory and gave the Bears a 2-0 match lead.
Kills from Simon and Bishop early in the third set helped the Lyons stay even with Coast Guard, before Mount Holyoke took advantage of back-to-back errors from Dake, followed by another kill from Simon and an ace from Crosby to take a 9-6 lead. From there, the hosts then went on a 5-0 run to take a 14-8 advantage, including kills from Davis and Simon to fuel the Lyons. After Berclaz added another ace to make it 19-11, Mount Holyoke shut the door as Crosby, Davis, Simon and Abeja all collected kills late in the set to earn the 25-20 victory.
With the match on the line, Coast Guard came out in the fourth set and dominated, picking up 16 kills and hitting .556 in the frame. Dake, who registered six of her 13 kills in the final set, started things off with a kill before adding three-consecutive kills midway through the frame to make it 13-7, Bears. From there, Dake would then produce two more kills and followed it up with an ace to give Coast Guard a 16-9 lead. Leading 18-11, the Bears then took a 23-12 lead as Galdamez delivered four kills late in the match before Hatfield sealed the deal with back-to-back service aces.
Up next, Mount Holyoke College will welcome Western New England to Howard Gymnasium on Friday, October 8 at 6 p.m.
For the latest updates on Mount Holyoke College Athletics, follow the Lyons on social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also subscribe to our Youtube Channel.
