10/06/2009
Volleyball: On The Prowl - Cougars Rally For 3-2 Win

Worcester, Mass. - Behind 11 kills and nine digs from sophomore Kristin McGinty (Vail, Colo.) host Clark University snapped an eight match losing streak to the United States Coast Guard Academy with a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 win over the visiting Bears in front of a raucous crowd at the Kneller Athletic Center in NEWMAC women's volleyball action.

The win for the Cougars ended a losing streak to USCGA that dated back to October 27, 2001. The Bears had dominated the series in such fashion that Clark hadn't won a game in any meeting since their 2001 victory.

That all changed in this meeting as the Cougars raced out to leads of 14-4 and 24-7 before settling for a 25-9 win in game one.

Coast Guard rebounded in games two and three, registering wins by scores of 25-15 and 25-22. Game three looked to be in the Cougars favor after they held a 22-21 edge following a kill from Nicole Sullivan (Marshfield, Mass.). The Bears answered back, however, getting four consecutive kills, including three straight from Katherine Martorelli (Wyckoff, N.J.).

Clark regrouped and took the fourth game 25-14 after scoring the final eight points when the score was 17-14.

The fifth game saw the Cougars take a 2-1 lead and never relinquish it, although the Bears tied it up at 11-11. McGinty collected a pair of kills sandwiched around a Martorelli kill, making the game 13-12. From their each team committed an attack error before a service error by Coast Guard sealed the win for Clark.

In addition to McGinty's performance, Amira Tranchell (Falmouth, Mass.) posted 14 kills and Nicole Sullivan recorded nine, three digs and four total blocks.

Freshman Emily Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.) handed out 38 assists to go along with nine digs, while Emily Visone (West Hempstead, N.Y.) had a match-high 23 digs.

Martorelli paced the Bears with 12 kills and 15 digs and setter Karen Matic (Oswego, Ill.) chipped in with 34 assists and 10 digs.

With the win, Clark improves to 4-8 overall and 2-3 in NEWMAC action, while USCGA drops to 13-2 and 1-2 in league action.