Springfield, Mass. - October 25, 2022- The Springfield College women's volleyball team closed out the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) portion of its schedule with a gritty five-set win over Smith on Tuesday night in Blake Arena.  Springfield took the match by the scores of 25-15, 25-19, 21-25, 25-27, 15-11.

Springfield is no 17-7 on the year and finished conference play with a 7-3 record.  Smith dropped to 19-10, 4-5 with the loss. 

The Pride's defense limited Smith to a .050 hitting percentage as it totaled a season-best 18.0 team blocks, which was the fifth-highest total for a five-set match in Division III volleyball this season.  Maeve Voltz (Bay Shore, N.Y.) led all players with 10 blocks to go along with seven kills, while Jamie Albrecht (Selden, N.Y.) contributed a team-best 11 kills and added eight blocks of her own.  Riley Donahue (South Windsor, Conn.) turned in a 10-kill, 11-dig performance, Olivia Gentry (Loveland, Ohio) contributed seven blocks, and Ally Townsend (Hummelstown, Pa.) recorded a match-high 25 digs. 

Tied up at 11 in the first, Springfield used a 3-0 point burst capped off by a transition kill from Natalie Billet (Commack, N.Y.) to force Smith into a timeout.  After the visitors pulled within 17-14, Springfield ended the stanza on an 8-1 push behind the strong serving of Billet, as she had two of the Pride's four aces in the set.  

Trailing 12-10 midway through the second, Springfield scored the next five points as the Pioneers committed four attack errors, with Gentry getting in on a pair of blocks.  Springfield would push its lead to 19-15 on a stuff block from Voltz before the visitors 12th attack error of the set would give the Pride a 2-0 lead in the match following the 25-19 win.  

The third set featured nine ties and was back-and-forth in the early going before Springfield was able to open up a 14-11 edge as Smith burned a timeout.  Springfield would own a 19-17 lead late in the frame, only to have Smith pour on an 8-2 surge to pull away with the 25-21 victory.  The Pride was held to a -.032 hitting percentage in the set.

Smith carried that momentum into the fourth and raced out to a 6-0 advantage.  Springfield would go to its bench and head coach Moira Long's substitutions responded, battling all the way back to take a 22-21 lead after Voltz buried a kill on a slide.  Smith fought off a pair of match points, including at 25-24 as the Pride thought it had won the match, only to be called for a blocking error.  Consecutive attacking errors by Springfield closed out the 27-25 win for Smith as the match went to a fifth set. 

Three quick kills from Donahue set the tone for Springfield as it jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the fifth.  Smith would battle its way back to 12-0, before Voltz delivered a kill and Townsend followed with an ace for match point.  Two points later, Donahue would elevate for her fourth kill of the set as Springfield secured its seventh conference win of the year. 

Springfield will close out the regular season against Brandeis on Saturday in Blake Arena at 12 pm.

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