United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Volleyball - Bears Rally to Beat Wellesley; Advance to NEWMAC Championship

NEW LONDON, CONN.--(11/3/06)--Junior co-captain Corinne McCormack had 27 kills, seven aces and six blocks as top-seeded Coast Guard rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat fourth-seeded Wellesley 3-2 (29-31, 30-18, 28-30, 30-22, 15-10) in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinals.

Coast Guard extended its school record winning streak to 18 and advanced to the NEWMAC championship for the third straight season. The Bears lost in the final in both 2004 and 2005. Coast Guard will face third-seeded Springfield, a 3-2 winner over second-seeded MIT, in the championship on Saturday at 4 p.m. It is rematch of the 2004 NEWMAC Tournament final won by Springfield 3-2 in New London.

In game one, Coast Guard jumped out to a 7-1 lead and led 29-24 before Wellesley (19-10) fought off four game points scoring seven straight to stun the Bears 31-29.

The Bears could not close out the first game, but in the second game, Coast Guard scored the final eight points for a 30-18 win.

Wellesley won a nip and tuck third game 30-28. Coast Guard led 21-18 and then 26-24.The game was tied at 26, 27 and 28.

Coast Guard (22-2) evened the match jumping out to 15-6 lead in game four and won the game 30-22.

The Bears, showed why they were the top-seed as they jumped out to an 8-1 lead in game five and held on for the 15-10 win to advance to the semifinals.

Sophomore Nicole Gurr had 21 kills, 16 digs and 12 blocks while senior co-captain Christine Rostowfske had 56 assists and six blocks for the Bears.

Jessica Duff led Wellesley with 20 kills and 29 digs while Tracy Waldman added 11 kills and 10 blocks for the Blue.

McCormack finished the night with 1,101 career kills moving into fourth place on Coast Guard career kills list passing Tracy Speelhoffer who had 1,076 kills from 2001-2004.