Boston, Mass. – In the first day of a two-day invitational hosted by UMass-Boston, Clark University dropped a pair of matches against two regionally strong teams on Friday afternoon.

The Cougars lost the first match to the host Beacons, 3-1 and then fell in the nightcap to Bowdoin, 3-0.

In the opener, UMass-Boston won the first two sets before the Scarlet and White responded by winning the third set, 25-15.

The Beacons, however, took control early in the fourth set and walked away with the match-sealing, 25-11 triumph.

Marina Ramos (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) led the Cougars with her 13th double-double of the season with 11 kills and 13 digs. Her efforts were aided by Ana Mercado (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) who added six kills while Tori Whitney (Sunderland, Mass.) chipped in with 23 assists.

Defensively, Savannah Sanford (San Anselmo, Calif.) racked up 17 digs and Mia Cattaneo (Santa Barbara, Calif.) collected 14 of her own.

The Beacons were led by Julia Murphy, who finished with a match-high 19 kills and Pepper Baker who registered a match-best 45 assists.

In the nightcap, the Polar Bears proved to be too much for the Scarlet and White as they posted the 25-23, 25-13 and finally, 25-17 win.

Shannon Glass-Smythe (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Ramos each notched eight kills apiece for the Cougars, who also got five kills and ten digs from Sanford.

Bowdoin's Christy Jewett finished with a match-high 12 kills and added 16 digs.

Clark (17-6) is back at it on Saturday when they open up action at 11:00 a.m. against Augsburg College before wrapping up the weekend against Roger Williams at 1:00 p.m.