CASTINE, Maine - November 4, 2017 - The third seed Colby-Sawyer women's volleyball team fell at top seed Maine Maritime, 3-1, in Saturday's North Atlantic Conference (NAC) title match. The Mariners won by scores of 25-21, 14-25, 25-18 and 25-13. 

The Chargers end their season at 14-19 after making a seventh straight trip to the NAC Championship match. Colby-Sawyer will compete for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) title next season. Maine Maritime improved to 20-12 and earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

Colby-Sawyer was led by an 11-kill effort from Courtney Murray. Naarah Cox also reached double figures with 10 kills on .304 hitting. She added three blocks. Olivia Goodrich contributed 31 assists, while Rebecca Straubel added a match best 15 digs. Senior Alli Lahiff closed out her career with 14 digs and six kills. 

For their efforts throughout the NAC Tournament, Naarah Cox and Rebecca Straubel were named to the All-Tournament Team. 

The Mariners jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set, led by three aces from Hannah Butland, forcing the Chargers to use an early timeout. The Chargers battled back to take a 16-15 lead later in the set and the two teams exchanged the lead back-and-forth until the Mariners used a three-point run, capped off by a Jessica D'Auria ace on set point, to give the Mariners a 25-21 set victory. 

Colby-Sawyer came back strong to start the second set with a 12-4 lead, forcing the Mariners to use both timeouts early in the set. Maine Maritime fought back to close the gap to 16-12, but the Chargers called a timeout and answered with a four-point run to take a 21-13 advantage and took the set 25-14 following three-straight points.

Maria Perez tallied an ace to tie the third set at 6-6 but the two teams exchanged the lead numerous times until the Chargers faced a 13-11 deficit and used their first timeout. The Mariners then built an 18-11 lead to create some breathing room. The Chargers battled back to close the gap to 21-18 after a pair of kills from Naarah Cox but the Mariners scored four-straight to close out the set with a 25-18 victory.  

The Mariners claimed the championship by defeating the Chargers 25-13 in the final set, using a nine-point run to close out the set and take the victory.

D'Auria earned Tournament MVP honors after leading the Mariners with 11 kills and also added seven digs, four aces and a block. Sydney Adams led the Mariners with 26 assists and also contributed seven digs and two kills. Melissa Spaulding led the Mariners with 11 digs, and also tallied a pair of aces.

Perez concluded the afternoon with 10 digs, two assists, two aces and a kill to earn All-Tournament honors and teammate Cacacie tallied seven kills, five digs, three blocks and two aces to also earn All-Tournament honors.

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Portions of this release courtesy of MMA