BOX SCORE

NEW LONDON, N.H. – November 5, 2011 – The Colby-Sawyer College women's volleyball team won its first ever North Atlantic Conference (NAC) title after defeating four-time defending champion Maine Maritime, 3-0 Saturday afternoon. The Chargers earned the sweep by scores of 27-25, 25-18, and 25-15.

Colby-Sawyer has won eight straight matches and improves to 20-14. The 20 wins mark the ninth consecutive season with at least 20 victories. Colby-Sawyer will find out Monday who they will play in this year's NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament.

The Chargers were led by tournament MVP Courtney O'Hara (Mystic, Conn.). She had a match best 17 kills and added 11 digs. Sophomore Emilee McBride (Strafford, N.H.) hit .417 and had seven kills. Senior Kristin Sawyer (Walpole, Mass.) collected a match best 32 assists and added eight digs. Sophomore Ally Le-Bruno (Medfield, Mass.) contributed a match-high 25 digs. Sawyer and Le-Bruno were named to the All-Tournament team.

Maine Maritime was paced by senior Chelsea Ward (Homer, Alaska). She had eight kills and nine digs. Junior Jennifer Dixon (Woodstock, Md.) collected 20 assists and added eight digs. Freshman Sydney Robertson (Barnstead, N.H.) tallied seven kills and four blocks. Senior Lauren Sakahara (Bellevue, Wash.) added 16 digs. Robertson and Sakahara were named to the All-Tournament team.

The match featured 13 ties and seven lead changes. The first set had 10 ties and four lead changes.  

The first set was back and forth throughout with no team leading by more than four. With the set tied at 23-23, Colby-Sawyer committed a service error to give the Mariners a set point. However, Maine Maritime gave the point right back with a service error of their own. The set was then tied at 25-25 before the Chargers ended it with back-to-back kills.

The Chargers jumped out to a 13-6 lead in the second and never looked back as they controlled play throughout the set. Colby-Sawyer led by as much as eight and won 25-18 after a Maine Maritime attack error.

Colby-Sawyer carried the momentum into the third as they began with a 6-2 run. The Mariners would not go away easy and hung around at 10-7. The Chargers applied the pressure once again and finished the set on an 8-2. Freshman Jackie Keating (Marshfield, Mass.) gave Colby-Sawyer the championship with a match ending kill.

All-Tournament Team
Courtney O'Hara, So. – Colby-Sawyer – MVP
Kristin Sawyer, Sr. – Colby-Sawyer
Ally Le-Bruno, So. – Colby-Sawyer
Lauren Sakahara, Sr. – Maine Maritime
Sydney Robertson, Fr. – Maine Maritime
Hannah Olstad, Jr. – Husson
Jen Vadnais, So. – Univ. of Maine at Farmington