Boston, Mass. – February 10, 2013 – Mike Pelletier recorded a match-high 10 kills, while hitting .529 to lead the top-ranked Springfield College men’s volleyball team past Emmanuel College in three sets Sunday afternoon at the Jean Yawkey Center.

With the 25-18, 25-18, 25-19 victory, the Pride improve to 6-2 overall while the loss drops the Saints to 2-4.

In the opening set, the squads traded points early and a kill by sophomore outside hitter Ashanti Jackson put EC on top, 5-4. The Pride responded with a 5-0 run to take a 9-5 advantage and force the hosts to spend a timeout. A kill by senior right side hitter Alistair Matthews extended SpringfieldÂ's lead to 15-9 before the Saints would go on an 8-2 spurt to even the match at 17-17 following a kill by sophomore opposite Austin Cockerill. Springfield was able to weather the storm, rattling off six consecutive points capped by an ace from Matthews to take a 23-17 lead en route to a 25-18 first set victory.

The second frame was reminiscent of the first as Emmanuel jumped out to a 6-4 lead early on following a kill from sophomore opposite Ryan Kessler. With the score deadlocked at 8-all, the Pride would rattle off three quick points to pull ahead 11-8 and never looked back in the set. A service error by Springfield would make it a two-point margin in the action (15-13) but Emmanuel was unable to get any closer as the No. 1 Pride pushed ahead for another 25-18 win in the second set. As a team, the Pride hit .450 on the set including a perfect 1.000 combined hitting percentage (5-0-5) between the middle hitter combo of senior Greg Falcone and junior Jimmy OÂ'Leary.

In the final set, the Saints hung tough with the Pride before eventually giving way to the Pride. With the score even at 11-11, a kill from OÂ'Leary put Springfield ahead for good en route to the sixth win on the year.

Falcone added seven kills and a gaudy .750 hitting clip, and senior setter Mike Becker dished out a game-high 27 helpers. Junior libero Nick Ferry recorded a team-high eight digs.

For the Saints, Jackson finished with 10 kills while senior setter Nick Updike registered 24 assists.

Springfield will hit the court again on Friday, Feb. 15 against rival Juniata at 7:00 PM in Huntingdon, Pa. in the Juniata Invitational.