NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Freshman Kelsey DePorto had 15 kills and five blocks as Coast Guard, ranked fifth in New England, won a key New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) match beating Wellesley, ranked ninth in New England, 3-1 to take over sole possession of second place.

Coast Guard won by set scores of 25-20, 20-25, 25-23 and 25-14 in a battle of second place teams.

The Bears jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the first set, Wellesley pulled to within 21-18 before the Bears won it 25-20.  Wellesley evened the match in the second set by scoring six of the final eight points turning a 19-18 lead into a 25-20 win.

In the pivotal third set, Wellesley used a 10-2 spurt to erase a 16-12 Coast Guard lead for a 22-20 advantage, but the Bears scored five of the final six points for the 25-23 win. Coast Guard also had a 16-12 lead in the fourth set and put the match away by scoring nine of the final 11 points.

Sophomore Keriann Mason had nine kills and 11 digs, classmate Lauren Bloch added eight kills and three blocks while sophomore Catherine Walker had seven kills and nine digs for Coast Guard.

Sophomore Karen Matic led the way with 32 assists to go with 12 digs while senior Jessica Anderson finished with a team-high 16 digs and three aces in the win.

Junior Amanda Duritsch and sophomore Taylor King each had 14 kills to lead Wellesley. Sophomore Isabel Custodio led the Blue with 17 digs and 21 assists, senior Victoria Peng also had 21 assists while freshman Traci Hamanaka added 16 digs.

Coast Guard improves to 25-5 overall and 7-1 in NEWMAC play. Wellesley drops to 16-8 and 6-2 in conference action.

The Bears can wrap up the second-seed and a bye in the first round of the NEWMAC tournament with a win at MIT on Saturday. Wellesley hosts their final regular season game on Saturday, playing Clark at 1:00pm.