Cambridge, Mass. – November 16, 2024 – Third-seeded Smith College fought back from two sets down to defeat second-seeded Springfield College, 3-2, in the semifinal round of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Tournament in Rockwell Cage on the campus of MIT.

Smith, which improved to 29-6 on the year, was victorious by set scores of 25-23-25-22, 24-26, 23-25, 10-15 and advances to tomorrow's title match against top-seeded MIT at 1:00 pm. Springfield dipped to 22-7 and will now await word of an at-large berth to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament when selections are announced on Monday at 1:00 pm on NCAA.com.

Springfield's offense was powered by Riley Donahue (South Windsor, Conn.) as she registered a season-best 20 kills. Donahue has reached the 20-kill mark three times this season and twice this week as she reached the milestone in Tuesday's NEWMAC quarterfinal against Coast Guard. She also added three aces and ten digs. Maeve Voltz (Bay Shore, N.Y.) added 11 kills and five blocks, while Natalie Billet (Commack, N.Y.) posted six kills, eight digs and two blocks and Tori Colosimo (Fairport, N.Y.) dished out 36 assists.

Smith had three student-athletes post double-digit kills led by Abby Hunt hit .462 with 22 kills and four aces, while Mia Etheridge registered 16 kills and Abby Sweeney tallied 10 kills. Taylor Gwynne dished out 44 assists and Anna Feuer posted 10 blocks to power the Smith defense.

Springfield hit .310 in the first set, which featured 14 ties, as Donahue and Voltz both tallied five kills apiece in the opening stanza. Tied at 23-23, back-to-back swings by Donahue and Jodi Saelua (Mililani, Hawaii) gave Springfield the first set, 25-23. Neither team had more than a three point advantage all the way through as the biggest lead occurred at 7-4 on a kill by Ahunna James (Plainville, Mass.).
 
Tied at 13-13 in the second, the Pride ripped off a 6-1 run, capped by an ace from Colosimo forcing timeout by the Pioneers. Smith got as close as one point at 21-20 on a kill by Etheridge, but a Pioneers error paired with an ace by Kristen DeLorenzo (Syracuse, N.Y.) and a kill by Donahue gave Springfield a 25-22 set two win and a 2-0 lead in the match. Both teams hit under .250 in the second followed an over .300 effort from both sides in the first.

Donahue once again led Springfield with six kills in the third. Karenna Allain (Woodbridge, Conn.) came in with the Pride down 12-9, but with her at serve ripped off seven straight points including three aces to give Springfield a 16-12 edge. Smith came back and tied the score at 16 and then four times down the stretch with final time coming at 24. Springfield had four match points, but Smith rallied as a kill by Etheridge and a block gave Smith the third, 26-24.

Hunt led Smith to a 25-23 win in the fourth with eight kills on 13 swings (.538) to force an all-decisive fifth set. The score was even 11 different times in the fourth and the lead changed on nine different occasions. Etheridge gave Smith set point and Sarah Dankovich registered an ace to send the match to the fifth.

Smith jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the fifth and never looked back as Hunt registered her 22nd kill of the night to send the Pioneers to the NEWMAC title match on Sunday. Smith defeated Springfield for just the third time in 42 match span and for the first time since September 24, 2005 in a match that was also played at MIT.

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