Huntingdon, Pa. – November 16, 2023 – The Springfield College women's volleyball team defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology in straight sets by scores of 25-23, 25-18, 25-17 in the opening round of the 2023 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament this afternoon on the campus of Juniata College.

With the win, Springfield advances to tomorrow's NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Regional Semifinal against No. 22 nationally-ranked University of Mary Washington tomorrow at 4:30 pm inside Memorial Gymnasium in Huntingdon, Pa. This will mark the eighth regional semifinal appearance for the Pride since 2011 under the direction of head coach Moira Long.

Springfield, which is receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)/TARAFLEX Division III national poll this week, is now 27-4 on the season, while Wentworth's season ends with a mark of 23-6 in their first NCAA appearance since 2018 after winning the CCC title last week over Endicott College.

In today's first-ever meeting between the Pride and the Leopards, junior Riley Donahue (South Windsor, Conn.) paced Springfield's offense with 13 kills and added nine digs to her stat line, while classmate Natalie Billet (Commack, N.Y.) contributed 12 kills and five digs for the Pride. Sophomore Maeve Voltz (Bay Shore, N.Y.) hit at a blistering .438 clip with nine kills on 16 swings and posted six blocks, classmate Olivia Gentry (Cincinnati, Ohio) posted five kills and first-year Tori Colosimo (Fairport, N.Y.) posted three kills, 32 assists, ten digs and five blocks. Graduate student Ally Townsend (Hummelstown, Pa.) also notched 16 digs, five assists and three aces. Kate McLane paced Wentworth with 13 kills on 36 swings.

Springfield hit .371 with 16 kills in the first set, which featured 11 ties and five lead changes as the Pride slowly built their lead to three at 19-16 following swings by Billet and Voltz through the middle. Wentworth came out of its timeout and quickly knotted the score at 19-19 and took a 20-19 edge following an ace by Amanda Zweifler. The score was even for the final time at 22-22 as an error by the Leopards paired with two kills by Donahue gave Springfield a 25-22 set one victory.

Wentworth forced Springfield to burn an early timeout after the Leopards raced out to a 4-1 edge in the second set. Out of the timeout, Springfield ripped off a 10-1 run that featured two kills from Voltz as well as solo kills from Colosimo and Donahue. Three straight errors pushed Springfield's lead to 12-6. Wentworth strung together a run of its own to pull within four at 20-16, but that is as close as the Leopards got as a 5-1 spurt by the Pride that was capped by back-to-back kills by Donahue ended the set 25-18 in favor of Springfield.

The first half of the third set was knotted on nine different occasions with the final time coming at 12-12 before Springfield strung together three straight points on an error, a block by Colosimo and Voltz and a kill by Donahue for a 15-12 edge. From that point on, Springfield never relinquished the lead and with Townsend serving with the Pride up 21-17, ended the match on an ace, two kills by Billet and a swing by first-year Olivia Nealy (Athens, Ga.).

Springfield will face No. 22 University of Mary Washington tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 in the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Regional Semifinals. The two teams last met on October 14, 2012 at the Salisbury University Invitational and resulted in a four-set win for the Pride by scores of 25-22, 30-28, 23-25, 25-22.

Mary Washington defeated Hunter College in its first round matchup this afternoon by scores of 25-22, 25-12, 25-21.

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