Nashua, N.H. - March 11, 2022 - The Springfield College men's volleyball team used a strong serving performance to lead them to a straight-set victory over Rivier University on Thursday night.  The Pride picked up the road victory by the scores of 25-22, 25-12, 25-19. 

Springfield, ranked No. 1 in the country in the most recent AVCA Division III National Coaches Poll, is now 20-1 on the season.  The Pride totaled 17 aces in the game, marking the second time in its last three outings that it achieved that amount of service winners, which it previously had not done since the 2018 campaign.  

Chris Parker (East Northport, N.Y.) was dominant on the night as he produced 10 kills on 11 errorless attempts to go along with six service aces.  Brennen Brandow (Manorville, N.Y.) chipped in eight kills and three aces, Jarrett Anderson (San Jose, Calif.) produced four aces and six kills, Johjan Mussa Robles (Caguas, Puerto Rico) had a match-best nine digs, and Nate Reynolds (Baltimore, Md.) tallied three blocks as the Pride held Rivier to a .102 hitting percentage.

Springfield's struggled to find its rhythm early as it faced a 10-6 deficit to begin the match. The Pride would rally to knot things up at 13 on an ace by Matt Lilley (Stony Brook, N.Y.) and later used a 4-0 burst capped off by a block from Reynolds to force Rivier into a timeout with an 18-16 lead.  Springfield would take the 25-22 win as Brandow cranked his sixth kill of the night down the line to seal a frame where the Pride totaled seven aces.

In the second set, Springfield's offense came alive with 13 kills at a .400 clip.  The Pride stormed out to an 8-2 cushion and pushed its advantage to 16-7 after Lilley blistered an ace out of a Rivier timeout. Brandow would convert out of the back row for set point before the Raiders fifth attack error of the set gave the visitors a 25-12 win. 

The Pride broke open an 8-8 third set with a 10-4 burst that featured an ace and two kills from Parker. The hosts would get as close as 20-17, only to have Brandow's serve paint the back line on match point for the 25-19 victory.

On Saturday, Springfield will host a tri-match with SUNY Poly and Eastern Nazarene starting at 3 pm. 

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