New London, Conn. – September 18, 2010 – All-American Heather Lively posted 18 kills and Kelsea Hellyar handed out 49 assists as the Springfield College women’s volleyball team picked up a 3-1 win over Coast Guard in a New England WomenÂ's and MenÂ's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) match on Saturday afternoon.

        The Pride won by set scores of 25-12, 24-26, 25-16 and 25-21 to improve to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the NEWMAC. Coast Guard, which had its five-game win streak snapped, drops to 7-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

Trailing 2-1, the Bears looked to force a fifth a deciding set as the fourth set was tied 17-17 before Springfield ran off four straight and never looked back to extend its win streak to four.

Senior Sarah Lang-Rodean and junior Lauren Torvi each added 10 kills for Springfield out of the middle, while freshman Tessa Smolinski tallied nine kills in the win. Junior Kim Giaquinto registered nine kills and classmate Itza Nieves was outstanding on defense as she led SC with 10 digs.

Sophomore Catherine Walker led the Bears with eight kills and 11 digs while classmate Lauren Bloch had seven kills, ten digs and three blocks. Also for the Bears, freshman Kelsey DePorto had a team-high six blocks to go with five kills while senior Jessica Anderson added ten digs.

The Pride return to action on Tuesday evening when it travels to Worcester, Mass. for a conference matchup at Clark. First serve is slated for 7:00 pm.