NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Roger Williams University Women's Volleyball team could not claim its first NCAA Tournament win Friday afternoon, as Coast Guard Academy defeated the Hawks in the opening round by a 3-1 score (16-25, 25-17, 25-16, 25-19).

The first set saw a back-and-forth effort between the Bears and the Hawks, with both teams alternating points in the opening. The Hawks held a slim 8-7 lead early on before Roger Williams ran off a 10-1 rally to take a commanding 18-10 lead. The Hawks took advantage of four Coast Guard attack errors in the process. Coast Guard was able to get up to 16 points before a kill by Kelsey Twarog (Barkhamsted, Conn.) gave the Hawks their first set win in NCAA Tournament history.

In the second set, the Hawks turned a 4-4 tie into an 8-4 lead, with kills by Rebekah Dion (Old Saybrook, Conn.), Natasha Sopchak (Rhinebeck, N.Y.), and Krystie Luczynski (Kensington, Conn.). After a Coast Guard timeout, the Bears came back with a 6-2 run of their own to knot the set at ten apiece. From there, Coast Guard would score ten of the next 13 points to go up 20-13. A late Hawk rally to make it 17-24 proved to be too late as Catherine Walker (Dearborn Heights, Mich.) picked up the final kill to tie the game at one set each.

The third set saw Coast Guard jump out to a 6-1 advantage and never look back. The Hawks slowly climbed their way back into the game, with Marybeth Torpey (Quincy, Mass.) getting a kill to make it a 9-11 deficit. Yet a 7-2 Bear run put Coast Guard back on top 18-11. Roger Williams' final point in the set came via another Torpey kill to make it 23-16, but back-to-back blocks assisted by Kelsey DePorto (Frankfort, Ill.) gave Coast Guard the win.

The final set saw the Hawks stay in the game early on, taking a brief 6-5 lead on a block by Twarog and Luczynski. Coast Guard would then slowly pull away, scoring the next two points to regain the lead, then ultimately stretching the advantage to six (15-9). The Hawks would not go away, as Luczynski's kill later in the set pulled Roger Williams within one (19-18). Yet a 6-1 Bear run to close out the match gave Coast Guard its fifth straight NCAA First Round win.

Luczynski led all players with a career-high 18 kills on 36 swings with only three errors. Dion had eight kills along with a pair of service aces. Emily Lebowitz (Coventry, Conn.) handed out 38 assists, while Kelsee Loche (Millis, Mass.), Jill Hurd (Sunapee, N.H.), and Brittney Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.) finished respectively with 12, 28, and 9 digs.

Coast Guard (30-5) advances to the second round, where the Bears will play the winner of the 3:00 p.m. #2 Stevens/#7 Johnson & Wales match. Roger Williams closes out the season with a record of 29-6.