WELLESLEY, Mass. – The Wellesley College volleyball finished as runner-up in the 2012 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship with a 3-0 loss to MIT at the Keohane Sports Center on Sunday. The Engineers won the program's first title since 1990 and their fourth overall, using set scores of 25-17, 26-24, and 25-15.

MIT was again led by a powerful attack, as the Engineers hit .322 as a team, while Wellesley was held to a .147 clip. Ada Taylor led all players with 15 kills while hitting .600. Kristine Bunker and Tatiana Berger added seven kills each and Trinity Leonard tallied six. Meryl Gibbs also notched five kills while hitting .500. Katie Spielbauer recorded 13 digs for the Engineers, and Alyssa Rothman distributed 37 assists in the sweep.

Sydney Carfagno led the Blue with 10 kills, while Kellyn O'Brady added seven and Jessica Mullen chipped in three. Isabel Custodio led Wellesley in three categories, with 17 assists, nine digs, and three blocks. Hilary Ayers added 11 assists and eight digs in the loss.

The visitors took control early, carrying a three-point lead for much of the early part of the first set. A Taylor kill and a Wellesley attack error gave MIT their largest lead to date at 15-10, and started swinging the momentum towards the Engineers. After the teams traded sideouts, MIT's Sharon Hao was on the line for five straight points to extend MIT's advantage, before they won the set on an ace from Emma Gargus and a Wellesley error.

Set two was tight the whole way, as it featured seven lead changes and no team holding more than a two point advantage the entire way. Wellesley led 15-13 after a Carfagno kill, but MIT responded with a Bunker kill to take over the lead at 17-16. Wellesley battled back to go ahead 24-22 on a Mullen kill, but MIT closed out the match with two kills from Bunker and an ace from Hao to win the set, 26-24.

In the third and deciding set, MIT seized control early and did not relinquish its advantage. The Engineers opened with an 8-3 lead on a serving run from Lindsey Wang and two kills from Leonard. Wellesley battled back to come within three, after two kills from O'Brady cut the lead to 13-11. However, MIT strung together runs from Rothman and Lindsay Wang to open up a 20-15 lead. They then wrapped up the match with five straight points on serving from Spielbauer, including the title-clinching ace.

Following the match, MIT's Kristine Bunker was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, racking up 28 kills and 15 blocks with a .313 hitting percentage.

MIT (30-5) will now await the bracket for the 2012 NCAA Division III Volleyball tournament, as the conference's automatic qualifier. Wellesley (28-5) season will only continue with at-large bid to the tournament.