Wellesley, Mass. - Second-seeded Wellesley College used hot hitting to sweep seventh-seeded Clark University, 3-0 (25-11, 25-12, 25-18), in the quarterfinals of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) volleyball tournament on Tuesday evening.

The win advances Wellesley (27-5) to Saturday's semifinal round at Springfield. The Blue will take on sixth-seeded Coast Guard who topped #3 Babson, 3-1. The loss ends one of the Cougars' most promising campaigns in recent memory with a 14-15 record.

Wellesley hit .402 as a team, combining for 47 kills on 87 attempts with just 12 errors. Clark, meanwhile, hit just .056, not breaking .100 in any of the three sets played. The Blue also out-dug (34-26) and out-blocked (10-2) the Cougars on the night.

Wellesley was nearly unstoppable in the first set, hitting .560 with 16 kills and just two errors. The Blue opened an early 11-3 lead, highlighted by a Megan Mills kill for the 11th point.

Clark battled back to make it 12-9, on a Shannon Glass-Smythe (Albuquerque, N.M.) serving run, punctuated by a Courtney Pharr (Seattle, Wash.) kill. After trading sideouts, Wellesley's Traci Hamanaka took to the serving line, as Wellesley went on an 8-0 run that featured a pair of Caitlin Laughlin kills to make it 20-9. Wellesley then closed out the match with Kellyn O'Brady on the line, as Sydney Carfagno recorded two of the final three points in the 25-11 victory.

In set two, Wellesley took advantage of several early Clark attack errors to open up a 9-5 lead. The Blue maintained a four-point advantage at until it was 12-8 before pulling away with O'Brady on the line. A Courtney Lang kill pushed the Blue lead to 17-8, before the teams traded a pair of sideouts to make it 19-11 Blue. Maddie Koh then took over serving duties and two kills from Brooke Fieldman extended the Blue lead to 23-11. A Wellesley attack error put Clark on the line, but Wellesley quickly took over, closing out the set on a Carfagno ace, setting the final to 25-12.

Set three was close through the early going, with the Blue holding on to a slim 9-8 lead. Wellesley then went on a 6-1 run, that included two kills each from Lang and Carfagno, making it 15-9. Clark cut the Blue advantage to 16-12, using a Glass-Smythe kill, but Wellesley forged ahead, taking a 21-12 lead on a Kira Jordan point.

Clark made some noise down the stretch, as Glass-Smythe and Savonnah Rowe (New York, N.Y.) each recorded kills to cut the Blue lead to 24-18, but an O'Brady kill sealed the set at 25-18, giving Wellesley the 3-0 sweep.

Five Wellesley players hit better than .400 for the night, with Laughlin leading the way at .667 on nine kills. Jordan hammered four kills on seven attempts for a .571 night, while Fieldman and Lang hit .444 on nine kills and six kills, respectively.

Carfagno had a strong outing as well, notching her 13th double-double of the season, with 14 digs and 10 kills (.412) to go along with a block and an ace.

Glass-Smythe led the Cougars with ten kills and four digs. Pharr added four kills and Savannah Sanford (San Anselmo, Calif.) and Rowe chipped in three apiece. Mia Cattaneo (Santa Barbara, Calif.) recorded 10 digs and an ace, while Rachel Spera (North Hollywood, Calif.), playing in her last collegiate contest, distributed 16 assists in the loss.