Springfield, Mass. - March 7, 2015 - The Springfield College men's volleyball team defeated both Dominican University and Johnson & Wales in straight sets on Saturday afternoon. 

The Pride, which moved up to sixth in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III Men's Coaches Poll, improved to 13-5 on the season with the two victories.

Springfield will play again on Tuesday when it travels to play Lasell for a 7:00 pm contest.

Springfield 3, Dominican 0

In the first ever meeting between the two schools, the Springfield College men's volleyball team cruised past Dominican in straight sets on Saturday afternoon in Blake Arena.  The Pride was victorious by the scores of 25-17, 25-17, 25-23.

Greg Woods (Middletown, Conn.) continued his impressive play from the right side as he registered a match-high 13 kills at a .385 clip to go along with five digs, four blocks, and three aces.  Keaton Pieper (Dallas, Texas) was credited with 31 assists in leading Springfield to a .343 hitting percentage and Jason Mascoe (Uniondale, N.Y.) added four kills and four blocks.  Additionally, both Ricardo Padilla Ayala (San Juan, Puerto Rico) and Angel Perez (Naranjito, Puerto Rico) posted six kills apiece. 

For the Stars, who hit .181 on the day, Mason Solbrig had a strong showing with seven kills on eight errorless attempts while notching a team-best three blocks.  Alex Coyne handed out 29 assists, and Trevor Slonek tacked on six kills of his own.

Springfield set the tone of the match in the opening set, recording four quick aces, including two each from Woods and Padilla Ayala, to take an 8-4 lead. After the Stars sidedout out to get within three, a kill from Woods highlighted three-straight Springfield points as the hosts took control of the frame with an 11-5 cushion.  The Pride, which hit .471 in the game thanks to five kills from Woods, completed the first set with Padilla Ayala unleashing his third ace for a 25-17 win.

The Pride jumped out of the gate to begin the second set as well, taking a 7-3 lead following back-to-back kills from Perez.  Dominican would answer back to make it a 15-11 game, but the Pride used a 4-1 spurt, capped off by a Tucker Evans (Midlothian, Va.) ace to provide itself with a 19-12 lead.  The hosts would go on to lead by as many as nine at 22-13 after consecutive blocks from Mascoe and Woods, and would cruise to another 25-17 win.

Dominican held a 9-7 lead in the third set until Springfield kicked it into gear with a 5-0 burst, with Mascoe pacing the way with two blocks and a big swing out of the middle.  A sideout kill from Dominican stemmed the tide for just a moment as the Pride went on to score seven of the next nine points to balloon its lead to 19-12.  The visitors did not back down and climbed within 24-23, only to have Perez complete the sweep with his sixth kill of the day.

Springfield 3, Johnson & Wales 0

In its second match of the day, the Springfield College men's volleyball team swept Johnson & Wales in Blake Arena by the scores of 25-17, 25-22, 25-20.

Head coach Charlie Sullivan went with a youthful roster in the win, as of the 13 players that saw action, 10 were either freshmen or sophomores.  Leading the way for Springfield was Sean Zuvich, (San Pedro, Calif.), who erupted for a career-high 20 kills while hitting at an impressive .633 clip.  Joseth Irizarry Feliciano (Adjuntas, Puerto Rico) chipped in five kills and three blocks, and Luis Garcia Rubio (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) ran Springfield's offense to a .342 hitting percentage as he dished out 36 helpers.

The Wildcats had a pair of players in double digit kills, with Brendan Baker totaling 11 kills, seven digs, and five blocks and Ryan Kennedy adding 10 kills.  J.J. Bessette was credted with 30 assists for the visitors, who hit .311 in the loss.

Holding a 6-5 lead in the first, Springfield benefited from four-straight JWU miscues to take a 10-5 lead.  The Wildcats would eventually call for a timeout trailing 12-6 following Zuvich's third kill of the set, but would battle back to 15-13.  The hosts regrouped and scored seven of the next nine points, with Zuvich and Jason Weedon (North Tustin, Calif.) each producing two kills in the burst.  The Pride eased its way to a 25-17 win as Zuvich was unstoppable in the set, totaling six kills on nine errorless attempts to go along with a pair of aces.

After giving up the opening point of the second set, Springfield responded with six-straight points as Evan Koehler (West Seneca, N.Y.) delivered a pair of kills and a solo block.  The Pride would go on to lead by as much as 16-8 as it converted for kills on its first nine kills, but the Wildcats made things interesting to rally within 21-19.  However, Zuvich sided out for the Pride and Ricardo Padilla Ayala (San Juan, Puerto Rico) came off the bench to rip an ace to force JWU into a timeout.  Springfield turned to Zuvich down the stretch, and the sophomore posted his seventh kill of the set to give the Pride a 25-22 win.

The third set proved to be a back-and-forth affair, as it featured 14 ties and eight lead changes.  After an Irizarry Feliciano ace gave Springfield a 7-4 cushion, the Wildcats answered with a 4-0 surge to take the lead.  Irizarry Feliciano put the Pride back on top with an overpass kill at 13-12, but thanks to four Springfield hitting errors, the visitors regained a 16-14 lead as the Pride burned its final timeout.  Facing a 19-18 deficit, Irizarry Feliciano took over with a block and big swing in the middle to put the Pride back on top, 21-19.  Thanks to a pair of Tucker Evans (Midlothian, Va.) down the stretch, Springfield remained in control and Zuvich blasted his 20th kill of the night to wrap up the contest.