Worcester, Mass. - October 1, 2022- The Springfield College women's volleyball team dropped its second five-set conference match of the season as it fell to host WPI on Saturday in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest on Saturday.  The scores in favor of the Engineers were 18-25, 25-21,22-25,25-22,15-9.

WPI improves to 7-6 on the year and picked up its first conference victory of the season to move to 1-5.  The Pride, who was receiving votes in the AVCA Division III National Poll this week, fell to 8-4, 2-3. 

Ally Townsend (Hummelstown, Pa.) turned in a career-high 31 digs to anchor Springfield's defense, while Jamie Albrecht (Selden, N.Y.) had a team-best 14 kills to go along with 13 digs. Riley Donahue (South Windsor, Conn.) added 22 digs and 11 kills in the setback. 

Springfield jumped out to a 12-6 lead to start the match as Natalie Billet (Commack, N.Y.) delivered a kill off the block in transition.  WPI would get within 17-13 on an overpass kill, but the Pride would regain a 21-14 edge on an Engineers miscue as the hosts burned their second timeout.  The Pride would take the 25-18 win following the Engineers fourth service error of the set as the Billet led the way with six kills in the stanza.

WPI never trailed in the second set as they raced out to a 6-1 advantage and never looked back. After falling behind by as many as six points, the Pride pulled within 21-19 on a swing by Julia O'Connor (Rocky Hill, Conn.) in system, but the Engineers would prevail 25-21 following their 14th kill of the set. 

Trailing 15-13 midway through the third, Springfield scored five-straight points, with a free ball from Townsend dropping in for a kill to force WPI into a timeout down 18-15.  WPI would respond to take a 22-21 lead, only to have the Pride score the final four points of the set, with back-to-back WPI attack errors completing the 25-22 win. 

A kill from Hadley Rhodes (North Easton, Mass.) down the line allowed the Pride to take a 10-6 lead to start the fourth, but an 12-5 spurt by the hosts fueled them to an 18-15 advantage.  The teams would be deadlocked at 21 before the Pride committed three-straight attack errors as WPI forced a fifth set with a 25-22 victory of their own. 

WPI carried that momentum into the fifth set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead.  The Pride would use a 3-0 burst, capped off by a kill from Megan Kirtyan (Massapequa Park, N.Y.), as WPI called for a timeout with its lead trimmed to 8-7. However, WPI would later use a three-point run of its own to go up 12-8 and held on for the 15-9 win.  

Springfield will return to Worcester on Tuesday when it takes on Clark at 7 pm in another conference clash.

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