October 31, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Volleyball Falls to Coast Guard in NEWMAC Championship

Northampton, MA: The Pioneers fell to Coast Guard 3-0 last night in New London, Connecticut in quarterfinal action of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Volleyball Championship. With the loss, Smith fell to 17-14 while the Bears improved to 21-5 and advanced to the semifinals.

The Bears won the first game 30-16 after jumping out to an early 8-0 lead.  Smith scored six of the next eight points to pull within four but Coast Guard rattled off the next five points to en route to the win. In the second game, the Bears had an 18-11 lead and then racked up 12 of the next 15 points to win 30-14.  In game three, Smith had the game tied at 15-15 but the host scored five straight and took the game 30-25.

Sophomore Bethany Weiss (Windham, NH) led the Pioneers with seven kills along with two service aces while classmate Mikal Minarich (Hobart, IN) added four kills, seven assists and 15 digs.  Senior Catherine Shafer (Red Bluff, CA) tallied six kills with 12 digs and first year Lauren Martinez (Phoenix, AZ) contributed with 9 assists and 7 digs.