Worcester, Mass. - For the second straight season, Clark University and Emerson College played in a winner-take-all regular season finale with the victor earning the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference's (NEWMAC) final berth in the postseason tournament. And for the second straight year, the Cougars came out on top, this time with a thrilling 3-2 (17-25, 25-20, 29-27, 20-25, 15-13) win on Saturday morning at a raucous Kneller Athletic Center.

The win sets up a league quarterfinal matchup between the Scarlet and White and Babson College on Tuesday at the Beavers' Staake Gymnasium.

Clark was paced by an excellent passing effort from Tori Whitney (Sunderland, Mass.), who dished out a career-high 45 assists. In addition to Whitney, the Cougars got 18 kills and 13digs from Marina Ramos (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) and 12 kills and 11 digs from Shannon Glass-Smythe (Albuquerque, N.M.).

Emerson opened the match up on fire, hitting .357 en route to a somewhat easy 25-17 win in the first set as Brittany Schoelkopf (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) asserted herself with five early kills.

The second set saw the Cougars lead from wire-to-wire and when Emerson closed the gap to one at 20-19, Clark registered five of the final six points, highlighted by a Courtney Pharr (Seattle, Wash.) service ace and consecutive kills by Savonnah Rowe (New York, N.Y.) and Ramos.

Things didn't look good for the Scarlet and White starting the third set as the Lions jumped out to a 10-3 advantage. Clark slowly trimmed that edge down and found themselves tied at 24-24 late in the set. Neither team could finish the set off until the score was 27-27 and the Cougars took advantage of a Lion hitting error and then a Savannah Sanford (San Anselmo, Calif.) kill gave the hosts a 29-27 win.

In the fourth set with the score tied at 14-14, the Scarlet and White pulled ahead 18-17, following a pair of monster kills from Rowe but from that point on however, the Lions ended the match scoring eight of the next ten points as Amanda Linzmeyer (Huntington Beach, Calif.) recorded three of the final four points to force the fifth and deciding set.

Each team rattled off consecutive points during the early portion of the fifth set and the score was 10-10 when the Cougars had back-to-back kills from Ramos and an Emerson miscue to put themselves ahead 13-10.

The Lions made on final push, getting to 14-13, but a service error sealed the win for the Scarlet and White.

Emerson had a balanced offensive attack, getting 16 kills apiece from Linzmeyer and Jules Augustine (Skaneateles, N.Y.) and 11 more from Elizabeth Reid (Charlottesville, Va.)

Elaine Nichols (Bountiful, Utah) spectacular in her own right, doling out a career-best 53 helpers – her seventh match this season with 40 assists or more.

For the Cougars, Mia Cattaneo (Santa Barbara, Calif.) reeled in a match-best 22 digs, while Rowe (nine kills) and Pharr (seven kills) aided in the offensive output.

In the nightcap against Colby-Sawyer, Clark suffered a 3-1 setback to the Chargers. Kaitlyn Stuck (Bourne, Mass.) collected 25 digs, while fellow classmates Rowe (five kills) and Mel Conde (Union City, Calif.) (seven kills, six digs) each contributed in their final collegiate home contests.