BOSTON, Mass. (November 10, 2026) – Sixth-seeded United States Coast Guard Academy held off a late comeback effort from third-seeded Emerson College, ranked No. 24 in the latest NCAA Division III NPI rankings and among teams receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III poll, to secure a 3-2 (14-25, 25-21, 25-12, 19-25, 15-13) triumph in quarterfinal round action of the 2026 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Volleyball Tournament at Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gymnasium tonight.
Coast Guard (16-11, 5-6 NEWMAC) advances to Saturday's NEWMAC Semifinals, which will be hosted at top-seeded Babson College, to face No. 2-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (23-4, 9-2 NEWMAC) at 3:30 p.m. The Engineers advanced with a 3-0 sweep of seventh-seeded Worcester Polytechnic Institute (12-15, 5-6 NEWMAC) in their quarterfinal matchup tonight in Cambridge. Emerson (22-5, 9-2 NEWMAC) sees its nine-match winning streak halted and now awaits its NCAA Tournament fate when bids are announced next Monday, November 16, via NCAA.com at 1 p.m.
Sophomore Ava Ahokovi engineered a Coast Guard attack that placed three hitters in double figures with a match-high 28 assists to go with 19 digs for a double-double. Senior Mary Grace Delfino added 16 digs and served up three aces, while classmate Courtney Shire registered 23 digs for the Bears.
Hokenson posted a triple-double against Coast Guard for the second time in three days, posting her fifth of the season overall tonight (PHOTO BY Jacob Goldberg, '28) |
Sophomore Corey Lemmer paced Coast Guard's trio of double-figure hitters with a match-high 17 kills, while senior Sam Ventimiglia hit .324 with 14 kills and just two errors and two blocks. Senior Abby Schweitzer added 12 kills and only two errors for a .312 hitting percentage with two blocks.
Junior Chloe Hokenson notched a triple-double for the second-straight match against Coast Guard, marking her fifth of the season (ninth career), with 13 kills, 13 assists and 14 digs, while adding two blocks and a service ace. Sophomore Lizi Horning led the Lions with 15 kills, while senior Rachel Dickerson recorded her eighth double-double of the season (15th career) with 14 kills and 14 digs.
Junior Sophia Schiappa dished out 26 assists for Emerson with four aces and ten digs for her third double-double of the year (fifth career), while Senior Lauren Yoo chipped in 25 digs, eight assists and three aces for the Lions.
Emerson powered to an early advantage by hitting .371 with just three attack errors in rolling to the opening set. Hokenson and Dickerson each recorded five kills in the frame, combining on five kills during a 6-0 run for an early 8-4 lead in the set on Yoo's serve. Yoo's serve came up big later in the set as well, producing another six-point run, for a 22-14 lead before Dickerson closed out the set with a kill.
Coast Guard was able to force five sets by winning the third and fourth sets against Emerson in their regular season matchup here on Boylston Street just three days ago but struck a set earlier tonight to gain control of the match. The Bears took advantage of nine Emerson hitting errors in taking the second set and then hit .361 as a team with three attack errors to win the third and pull within a set of the semifinals. Schweitzer and Lemmer each recorded five kills without an attack error in the third set, while Ventimiglia added four.
Coast Guard grabbed early leads in each of the two sets it won to grab a 2-1 lead, but Emerson battled back in the fourth, scoring the first four points on Schiappa's serve and keyed by two Horning kills to force the second five-set outing against the Bears in three days.
Coast Guard again played in front in the fifth and deciding set, opening a 14-10 lead after a Ventimiglia kill. Emerson made one last push, fending off three match points with two Dickerson kills and a Yoo ace, but Lemmer closed out the match with a kill after a Bears timeout.
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