NEW LONDON, N.H. -- The Colby-Sawyer College women's volleyball team won its first ever North Atlantic Conference (NAC) title, 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, which earned the NAC's Automatic Qualifier, will find out Monday who they will play in this year's NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament.

Tournament MVP Courtney O'Hara (Mystic, Conn.) led the Chargers. She had a match best 17 kills and added 11 digs. Sophomore Emilee McBride (Strafford, N.H.) hit .417 and had seven kills. 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.

Chelsea Ward (Homer, Alaska) paced Maine Maritime with eight kills and nine digs. Jennifer Dixon (Ellicott, City, Md.) collected 20 assists and added eight digs. Sydney Robertson (Barnstead, N.H.) tallied seven kills and four blocks. 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.  It 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 its 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 run. 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

 Colby-Sawyer def. Maine Maritime 27-25,25-18,25-15

Maine Maritime (23-5) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Chelsea Ward 8-0-1; Sydney Robertson 7-0-4; Melissa Lail 6-1-0; Heather Moore 4-0-3; Jennifer Dixon 1-1-0; Chantal Adderley 1-0-0; Lauren Sakahara 1-0-0; Kayley Rodriguez 0-1-0; Totals 28-3-4.0. (Assists) - Jennifer Dixon 20. (Dig leaders) - Lauren Sakahara 16; Chelsea Ward 9; Kerri Sullivan 9; Jennifer Dixon 8

Colby-Sawyer (20-14) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Courtney O'Hara 17-1-1; Emilee McBride 7-0-1; Jackie Keating 4-0-1; Stephanie Vecchio 4-0-3; Ally Le-Bruno 2-1-0; Lindsey Raumikaitis 2-0-1; Kristin Sawyer 2-2-1; Sarah Hannon 0-1-0; Totals 38-5-4.0. (Assists) - Kristin Sawyer 32. (Dig leaders) - Ally Le-Bruno 25; Courtney O'Hara 11; Julia Yee 9;  Kristin Sawyer 8