Lyons pick up first victory over Bears since Oct. 7, 2003

Interview with head coach Craig Letourneau

NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College women's volleyball team claimed its first win over Coast Guard Academy in ten years on Tuesday night at Emerson Gymnasium beating the Bears, 3-1, by scores of 35-33, 12-25, 25-16 and 25-23 in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest.

Wheaton sophomore Taylor Matook (Exeter, R.I./Exeter-West Greenwich) sent home a team-high 14 kills on 35 attempts for a .257 hitting percentage alongside four digs and one block assist to highlight the offense. Classmate Kendall Jacobs (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) had 13 kills on 24 attempts (.500 hitting percentage) and three block assists while Lindsay Tebbetts (Gilmaton, N.H./Gilford) tallied 12 putaways, one dig and three block assists.

With her three block assists on the night, Tebbetts moved into sole possession of ninth place on the all-time blocks list at Wheaton. Tebbetts has compiled 168 total blocks (37 solo, 131 assist) in 353 sets played.

Sophomore Deirdre Wilson (Aptos, Calif./Aptos) posted her ninth double-double of the season with 42 assists, 13 digs and seven kills. Classmate Elise Waelder (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma) contributed a team-high 16 digs, five kills, six assists, one service ace and four block assists. Sophomore Robyn D'Agostino (Three Bridges, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) added 14 digs, two kills, three assists and four service aces.

For Coast Guard, freshman Susan West (Jacksonville Beach, Fla./Duncan U. Fletcher) led all student-athletes with 15 kills, two assists, one service ace, one dig and four blocks (one solo). Classmate Rebekah Muller (Denair, Calif./Turlock Christian) finished with a double-double on 13 kills and 13 digs.

Bears' senior Samantha Marmolejo (El Paso, Texas/Burges) bumped up a match-high 17 digs to become the all-time leader in the category at Coast Guard with 1,650 total.

Set one went back-and-forth featuring 13 ties and seven lead changes before the Lyons finally clinched a 35-33 victory with back-to-back kills by Matook and sophomore Arieanne Creighton (Brookline, N.H./Hollis Brookline). Tied 25-25, Wheaton fended off three separate deficits in large part to ten combined kills from Jacobs and Creighton. As a team, the Blue and White powered home 20 kills on 60 attempts (.217 hitting percentage), 23 digs, three service aces and four total blocks.

Coast Guard bounced back in the second set utilizing a .409 hitting percentage, while capitalizing on a match-high nine attack errors by Wheaton. Muller notched three putaways and West had three to spearhead the Bears' offense.

The Lyons answered with a .400 hitting percentage – their highest output on the night – in set three receiving 19 kills combined from seven different student-athletes on the court. Jacobs and Tebbetts fueled the offense this time around as Jacobs turned in five kills and Tebbetts registered four putaways.

In set four, Coast Guard rallied from a 24-21 deficit late in the contest on a Wheaton attacking error and a service ace by freshman Michaela McKeown (Boulder, Colo./Boulder) to make it 24-23, but Jacobs ended any threat of a continued session with her 13th and final kill of the night for the victory.

Wheaton (13-10, 4-3 NEWMAC) has three conference games left on its schedule against Clark University, Babson College and Smith College. The Lyons currently sit in sixth place in the NEWMAC standings aiming for one of the seven spots in the conference tournament which begins on November 5. The Blue and White return to action on Saturday, October 19 for a tri-match against Western Connecticut State University and Bridgewater State University in Connecticut. Coast Guard (18-6, 4-3 NEWMAC) hosts Emerson College for a league match on Tuesday, October 22 at 7 p.m.

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