United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Volleyball

NEW LONDON, CONN.--(10/9/07)--Senior Rose Zhong had nine kills and 12 digs while sophomore Katie Rowe added nine kills and four blocks as MIT won its 17th straight match improving to 21-1 on the season as the Engineers beat defending New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season and tournament champion Coast Guard 3-0 (30-28, 30-25, 30-14) in a battle of conference powerhouses.

The loss was the first regular season home loss against a conference opponent for Coast Guard in nearly four years. The Bears had won 16 straight regular season NEWMAC contests. Ironically it was MIT who had last beaten the Bears in New London, 3-1 on Oct. 21, 2003.

In game one, Coast Guard led 9-8 before MIT scored eight straight to take a 16-9 lead. With MIT leading 18-10, Coast Guard answered by scoring eight of the next nine to pull to within 19-18. MIT had a three point lead on four different occasions from that point including 29-26 before Coast Guard scored two straight to make the score 29-28 before the Engineers closed out game one 30-28.

Game two was tied 11-11 when MIT scored 10 of the next 14 points for a 21-15 lead and Coast Guard would get as close as three at 26-23 before the Engineers won the game 30-25 before closing out the match 30-14 in game three.

Sophomore Barden Cleeland led MIT (21-1, 6-0) with nine blocks while senior Amanda Morris had 38 assists to go with eight digs and three blocks.

Senior Corinne McCormack led Coast Guard (14-4, 4-2) with 13 kills while junior Nicole Gurr had nine kills and 13 digs. Freshman Jessica Anderson had 10 digs while classmate Ashley Bullard led the way with 28 assists for the Bears.

Coast Guard beat MIT twice last season both by 3-2 scores including a win in the NCAA Division III New England Region final at Cambridge, Mass. that put the Bears in the Elite 8 for the first time in school history.