United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Volleyball

NEW LONDON, CONN.--(9/29/09)--Senior Barden Cleeland had 15 kills and eight blocks while classmate Alex May had 12 kills and 13 digs as MIT ended Coast Guard’s home winning streak at 25 and handed the Bears their first loss of the season in a five game thriller, 3-2 (14-25, 25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 15-13) in the battle of New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) unbeatens.

Junior Jenny Li added 12 kills for the Engineers (12-4, 4-0), freshman Katie Spielbauer had 12 digs while senior Katrina Ellison and freshman Alyssa Rothman, who had 50 assists, each added eight digs for MIT.

The Bears jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first game and MIT would get as close as three at 9-6 before Coast Guard scored seven of the next nine points for a 15-8 advantage and won 25-14.

Coast Guard (11-1, 3-1) led game two, 13-12 before MIT took the lead for good scoring four straight for a 16-13 edge and went on to win 25-21.

The Engineers start quickly in game three with a 10-2 lead before Coast Guard chipped away and eventually tied the score 19-19. With the score tied 20-20, MIT scored three straight to take charge and won 25-22.

The fourth game was a back-and-forth affair which saw the team alternate points 19 straight times making the score 18-18. Coast Guard scored five straight to take control before forcing the fifth game with a 25-19 win.

MIT lead game five 7-5 before four straight Coast Guard points gave the home team a 9-7 advantage. The game was tied at 11, 12 and 13 before MIT scored back-to-back points to wrap up the win.

Freshman Lauren Bloch had a match-high 19 kills to go with eight digs while classmate Keriann Mason had 15 kills, 15 digs and four blocks. Freshman Karen Matic had 54 assists to lead Coast Guard while junior Jessica Anderson added 15 digs in the loss.

Ironically, MIT was the last team to beat Coast Guard at home when they did so on Oct. 9th of 2007 with a 3-0 win.