Springfield, Mass. – January 24, 2024 – The Springfield College men's volleyball team earned a 3-1 win over Eastern Nazarene College on Wednesday evening inside Blake Arena for the program's third win of the 2024 season as the Pride won by set scores of 25-19, 25-13, 21-25, 25-18.

Springfield improved to 3-1 on the season, while Eastern Nazarene took its first loss of the season and is also 3-1. The Pride entered tonight's contest ranked sixth in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III national poll.

Sophomore Evan Costley (Simi Valley, Calif.) powered Springfield's offense as he hit .500 with a career-high 14 kills. First-year Sam Levinson (La Grange, Ill.) added seven kills and four block assists in the win, while five other Springfield student-athletes notched at least three kills on the night in the balanced attack. Sophomore Dylan Mulvaney (Reston, Va.) dished out 25 assists in addition to four digs and three block assists for the Pride. Eastern Nazarene was paced by Alejandro Garcia Fernandez, who tallied a team-high 12 kills in addition to three aces and five digs.

The first set featured five ties and the Pride hit .292 en route to a 25-19 win. The score was even for the final time at 6-6 before Springfield's 6-2 run, which was capped by an ace from Costley, forced the Lions to burn a timeout at 12-8. Eastern Nazarene climbed back within two points at 16-14, but a double block, a kill from Costley and a Lions error extended the Pride's cushion back to five points at 19-14. A kill from sophomore Carter Durivage (East Greenbush, N.Y.) secured the first set win for Springfield, 25-19.

Springfield hit a match-high .500 in set two and eased past Eastern Nazarene, 25-13, for a 2-0 lead in the contest. The Pride raced out to a 7-2 advantage following an ace from Levinson, a kill from Costley and a Lions error. Midway through the stanza, two swings by first-year Brennan Cutter (Trumbull, Conn.) and a block by Springfield forced Eastern Nazarene to call a timeout with the score at 13-5. Once again, a kill from Durivage began the final run of the set as he was followed by a triple block and an ace from junior Giancarlo Carrion (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) for the set victory.

Despite hitting .500 again in the third, the set featured ten ties and three lead changes but it was Eastern Nazarene which won the stanza, 25-21. A swing from Costley knotted the score at 18-18 before two errors gave the Lions a two-point edge, a lead they wouldn't relinquish, to force a fourth.

Levinson registered a team-best four kills in the final set, which saw the score even on four occasions and the lead change twice. Out of a timeout trailing 9-8, Springfield went on a brief 6-1 run for a 14-10 advantage. The spurt was capped by a kill from sophomore Ethan Walters (St. Louis, Mo.) and also featured two kills from Levinson and two Lions errors. Springfield built its lead to as many as six at 18-12 late in the set before a service error by Eastern Nazarene secured the set, 25-18, and the four-set win for Springfield.

Springfield will next travel to Rivier University on Saturday, January 27 for a 6:00 pm match up.

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