BOSTON, Mass. – After a pair of close sets to start the match, the visiting Polar Bears of Bowdoin College cruised to a win in set three and four to defeat volleyball by the final of 3-1 Tuesday evening in the Clark Athletic Center Gymnasium.

With the loss UMass Boston fell to 16-7 overall, while the Polar Bears earned the third straight win over the Beacons to improve to 14-5.  Tuesday's contest marked the first-ever meeting between the two squads in the Clark Athletic Gym.  In nine previous meetings, eight were played on a neutral court, with the Polar Bears holding a 6-4 lead all-time.

After the Beacons took the first set 29-27, the Polar Bears clawed their way back in the second with a 25-23 win.  From there the momentum shifted completely in favor of Bowdoin as they earned a 25-13 win in the third and a 25-15 win in the fourth.

Carrying a majority of the weight for the Polar Bears was Christy Jewett, who scored an impressive 21 kills in the non-conference victory.  Erika Sklaker dropped in 14 kills and hit a solid .500 to lead the Polar Bears to their third straight win over the Beacons. 

For the Beacons junior Blair Boyer (Encinitas, Calif.) came out firing in the first set and hit all of her spots to keep Bowdoin off balanced.  She would eventually close out the match with a team-best 11 kills and also had 12 digs for her first double-double of the season.

Julia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) finished the match with nine kills, but was charged with six attack errors on 27 attempts.  Patsy Boland (Chicago, Ill.) and Kirsten Morrison (North Reading, Mass.) each threw down seven kills.  Boland continues to work herself back into the Beacons line-up after suffering a mid-season injury which sidelined her for a couple of weeks.

Emma Rocha (Boynton Beach, Fla.) totaled 24 assists, and had eight digs to help the Beacons defense.  Elizabeth Glavan led the Beacons with 13 digs, while Jodie Munchbach (Dedham, Mass.) and Boyer were tied with 12 digs.  Murphy led UMass at the net in the early on-going as she totaled three block assists and one solo block.

Quiny Leech anchored the Polar Bears offense with her 37 assists, and also had three aces of her team's six aces.  Katie Doherty dominated the back-row with her 24 digs, while also totaled 31 service receptions.

Volleyball returns to action on Thursday when they travel to UMass Dartmouth for a 6 p.m. Little East Conference match.