Springfield, Mass. - April 11, 2015 - The Springfield College men's volleyball used a .406 team hitting percentage to topple NJIT in four sets on Saturday afternoon in Blake Arena in the Pride's regular-season finale.

Springfield improved to 23-6 on the year with the victory, while NJIT, which competes as a Division I institution in the EIVA, falls to 9-11.

Springfield will now wait with hopes of earning an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III Championship.  The Pride, which is the three-time defending national champion, will learn its fate on the national selection show which will air on NCAA.com on Monday, April 13th at 10:00 am.

Greg Woods (Middletown, Conn.) had a tremendous showing from the right side as he racked up 22 kills and eight digs on a .486 hitting percentage, while Angel Perez (Naranjito, Puerto Rico) totaled 15 kills, hitting .542, to go along with nine digs and four blocks. Keaton Pieper (Dallas, Texas) ran Springfield's offense with 49 assists and four blocks and Ricardo Padilla Ayala (San Juan, Puerto Rico) chipped in 10 kills.  Joseth Irizarry Feliciano (Adjuntas, Puerto Rico) finished with a match-high seven blocks in the middle for Springfield.

Jabarry Goodridge led NJIT with 13 kills and TJ Jurko totaled 12 kills.  Zak Robben was credited with 37 assists as the Highlanders were held to a .173 hitting percentage and Luke Robbe produced five blocks for the visitors.

After Springfield committed three-straight attack errors to open the match, the hosts battled back to tie things at seven all as Woods buried his fourth kill of the early going.  The Highlanders would regain a 16-12 lead on overpass kill by Goodridge, only to have Perez find the back corner to tie things at 22 apiece.  The visitors answered with the next two points, but after a Springfield timeout, Woods hammered a ball down the line and Irizarry Feliciano put away an overpass.  However, NJIT closed with the frame with a block from Ryan Thomas and Chris Kaepernick  for a 26-24 win.

The Pride fell behind 5-2 early in the second, but reeled off a 4-1 run to knot the set at six apiece.  The Highlanders would push their lead to three on six different occasions, the last coming at 19-16, until the Pride knotted things at 20 after Padilla Ayala put away a kill.  The Highladers would earn set point at 25-24, but Springfield would string together three-straight kills with Padilla Ayala sealing the 27-25 win after blasting a kill off the block.

Springfield jumped out to a 6-4 lead in the third, putting away kills on its first five swings.  The Pride's offense didn't let up and continued to shine, producing 16 kills on 19 errorless for a remarkable .842 hitting percentage in thh frame.  Woods tallied six kills in the set and blistered cap off the third set, 25-18, in favor of the Pride.

Facing a 5-4 deficit in the fourth, the Pride stormed ahead 11-7 after Pieper snuffed out a Highlander attack with a solo stuff.  After NJIT answered with three-consecutive points, Springfield rattled off a 12-4 run to seize control of the frame, with Perez posting four kills in the burst.  Springfield, which hit .450 in the game, finished off NJIT as Woods cracked his 22nd kill of the match for the 25-16 win.