Springfield, Mass. – November 12, 2023 – The Springfield College women's volleyball team was upended in five sets in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship on Sunday afternoon in Blake Arena.  The top-seeded Pride was bested by the third-seeded Engineers by the scores 21-25, 15-25, 25-14, 28-26, 15-8.

MIT earns the NEWMAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament and enters postseason play with a 29-4 record.  Springfield will await to find out if it earns an at-large bid to the national tournament and currently owns a 26-4 record on the season.  In a rematch of the 2021 NEWMAC Championship, MIT was able to produce the reverse sweep the Pride for the win, matching the efforts that Springfield delivered in similar fashion in the regular-season meeting between the two squads. 

Riley Donahue (South Windsor, Conn.) paced Springfield with a match-high 21 kills, while Maeve Voltz (Bay Shore, N.Y.) turned in 15 kills and four blocks.  Tori Colosimo (Fairport, N.Y.) handed out 44 assists and picked up 15 digs,  Ally Townsend (Hummelstown, Pa.) chipped in 18 digs and Natalie Billet (Commack, N.Y.) registered a double double with 13 kills and 12 digs.  As a team, Springfield produced 13 service aces, including four from Olivia Nealy (Athens, Ga.).

MIT's Consecrata Rozario was named the Most Outstanding Player of the championship and turned in 19 kills at a .485 clip in the middle.  Teammate Lauren Keller was equally as impressive with 19 kills of her own and Ottavia Personeni was credited with a team-best 19 digs.  Emily Cheng was impressive running MIT's offense to a .308 hitting percentage as she registered 47 assists in the triumph. 

Voltz put away back-to-back kills in transition to give Springfield a 4-1 lead in the opening set and the hosts cushion would grow to 15-11 after a MIT attack sailed long.  The visitors battled back to take a 20-18 lead to force Springfield into a timeout, and the Pride would respond with plenty of resolve, manufacturing a 7-1 run to close out the frame.  An ace from Morgan Stafford (Corbett, Ore.) down the line would give Springfield set point and the Engineers sixth attack error of the afternoon would complete the 25-21 win, a frame in win Voltz put away all five of her attempts. 

Clinging to a 7-6 lead in the second, Springfield put together a 6-1 push, with Billet ripping a ball down the line for a 13-7 advantage in favor of the hosts.  A Springfield swing would go into the net at 15-13, but Springfield would regroup and roll to a 25-15 second set win.  Donahue started the scoring burst with a swing off the block thanks to a terrific feed from Townsend, Olivia Gentry (Cincinnati, Ohio) kept things rolling with a pair of spectacular stuff blocks, before Donahue cranked her sixth kill of the set to give the hosts a 2-0 set lead. 

Keller ripped five kills in the first eight points of the third as the visitors surged out to a 7-1 lead and never looked back. MIT's offensive was impressive, totaling 14 kills on 33 errorless attcks, including seven off the arm of Keller, as it cruised to a 25-14 win. 

The crowd was treated to a terrific fourth set, where the teams were tied 13 times. MIT held a 17-16 lead, only to have Springfield respond with the next four points, fueled by a kill and two aces from Donahue.  After MIT answered back with a 4-0 run of its own, the visitors would earn set point at 24-22 following another Keller kill.  Springfield would not go away, as it scored the next three points, getting critical kills from Billet and Donahue.  However, the Engineers were able to fight off two championship points from the Pride before benefitting from two Springfield miscues for the 28-26 win. 

In the fifth, Nealy came up with a huge cross court kill in transition to put the Pride on top 6-5. The Engineers would respond 10 of the final 12 points of the match, as the visitors were able to produce 11 kills at a .409 clip, to pull away with a 15-8 win and claim the title. 

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