WELLESLEY, Mass. – Wellesley College volleyball improved to 3-2 in NEWMAC play and 9-4 on the season with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-16) win over Coast Guard Academy at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse on Tuesday night.
First-year Delia Noel (Telluride, Colo.) was instrumental for the Blue with 12 kills and nine digs. Senior Evie Hill (Rocklin, Calif.) chipped in 11 kills. Junior Else Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) made 28 assists while seniors Noelle Winn (San Francisco, Calif.) and Caroline Meyer (Indianapolis, Ind.) both had double-digit digs.
The Bears (9-5 Overall, 1-3 NEWMAC) were led by 10 kills from senior Samantha Ventimiglia (Key West, Fla.). Sophomore Ava Ahokovi (Honolulu, Hawai'i) had 15 assists and senior Courtney Shire (Cape May, N.J.) registered 13 digs.
Wellesley pulled ahead in the middle of the first set at 15-9. A 4-0 run later ran the margin up to 19-10 before a 6-1 counter from the Bears closed the distance. Coast Guard later brought it all the way back to a one point set at 22-21 on an Ahokovi ace. A kill from Hill and a Kunze-Hoeg ace steadied the Blue and at 24-23, Kunze-Hoeg put the set away with a clear kill.
The hosts went up 6-2 in the second and kept a lead that sat between four and six for much of the second. A five-point unanswered run gave Wellesley a 23-11 advantage. While the Bears clawed back five of the final seven points of the set, the hole was too great to climb out of.
Wellesley once again went up by the middle of the third set. The offense was in lock step the entire set as the team recorded 17 kills on a .405 hitting percentage. Junior Sarah Jin (San Jose, Calif.) put the finishing touches on with a kill to end the match.
Next up, Wellesley stays home to welcome Eastern Connecticut State University in a non-conference match at 6:00 PM on Friday, October 9. Coast Guard next plays Springfield College on Tuesday, October 13.
