SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The Wellesley College volleyball team avenged a regular season sweep by handing the #2 seeded Coast Guard Bears a 3-1 loss in the semifinal round of the 2011 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament. The #3-seeded Blue dropped the first set, but won the final three with match scores of 24-26, 25-18, 25-20, 25-19 to seal the victory and advance to Sunday's final. 

Wellesley raises its season record to 23-8 and advances to the championship match to face #1 seeded Springfield on Sunday at 1:00pm. Coast Guard moves to 23-6 and will await word on a possible ECAC or NCAA bid. 

Isabel Custodio had a sensational match for Wellesley, recording a triple-double with 23 assists, 14 digs, and 11 kills. Teammate Sydney Carfagno tallied a team-best 13 kills and Traci Hamanaka led the defense with 16 digs. Hilary Ayers added 25 assists and 12 digs for the Blue who hit .210 in the contest.

For the Bears, Catherine Walker led the way all afternoon with a match-high 17 kills and 15 digs. Keriann Mason also produced a match-high 20 digs and 10 kills, while Karen Matic just missed a triple double with 10 kills, 26 assists, and nine digs.

A key turning point for the Blue happened late in the first set when Wellesley trailed 23-16 following a Mason kill. With Julia Adams at the service line, Wellesley put forth a furious rally to even the match at 24 after Amanda Duritsch connected on a kill out of the middle. Despite Coast Guard winning the final two points to win the opening set, the Blue finally found its rhythm, which carried through to the next three sets. 

In the second game, Wellesley used a 6-1 spurt turning an early deficit into a 12-8 lead. The Blue maintained their lead and tied the match with a 25-18 win.

Wellesley used a 5-1 run to open up a 17-12 lead in the third game and never looked back posting a 25-20 win in game three.  In the fourth and deciding set, the Blue opened a 14-6 and never looked back, winning 25-19.