Springfield, Mass. – February 2, 2024 – The Springfield College men's volleyball team hit at a .400 clip to topple Vassar in a five-set thriller between nationally-ranked squads in the International Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Classic on Friday night.  The Pride won by the scores of 25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 22-25, 15-11.

This marks 12th-straight year that the Pride has advanced to the Morgan Classic Championship, which is in its 36th year of existence and regarded as the most historic event for collegiate men's volleyball on the East Coast.  The Pride improved to 6-1 with the win, while the Brewers dropped to 6-2.  Springfield entered the match ranked seventh in the most recent AVCA Division III National Poll, while Vassar checked in at the No. 6 spot.

Dylan Mulvaney (Reston, Va.) was sensational in the victory as he led the Pride to a .400 hitting percentage with 47 assists to go along with eight digs, five blocks, four kills, and three aces.  Sam Levinson (La Grange, Ill.) racked up a career-high 19 kills on the right side at a .400 clip and Ethan Walters (St. Louis, Mo.) added a career-best 15 kills hitting .407.  Chris Rouleau (Bay Shore, N.Y.) finished the evening with six blocks and nine kills on 14 errorless attempts. For the Pride, it marked the first time a Division III team has hit .400 or above in a five-set match since 2022. 

Jacob Kim stuffed his stat sheet with 19 assists and 16 kills, Vaughn Ramsey tallied 11 kills and four blocks, AJ Erickson collected 25 assists, Billy Fan tacked on 10 kills, and Tucker Shearn posted 11 digs.  Vassar hit .349 in the setback.

Springfield opened up a 6-3 lead in the first when Walters ripped an ace down the line, only to have the Brewers knot it up at 14 on a kill by Fan. The Pride would respond with the next three points and push its lead to 23-18 on a kill by Walters.  Rouleau would hammer a kill for set point at 24-20 before the visitors sixth attack error of the set gave Springfield the 25-21 win.  Both Levinson and Walters had four kills in the frame as the Pride hit at a .474 clip.

Evan Costley (Simi Valley, Calif.) pounded an ace at 8-6 to force Vassar into a timeout.  However, in a set that featured 14 ties, the teams would go back and forth until Vassar took a 21-19 edge of their own on an ace by Kim coming out of a Springfield timeout. However, Costley would come with three-straight kills to fuel a 5-1 push as the Pride earned set point before Levinson powered a ball down the line for the 25-23 win. Both teams hit above .400 in the frame, including the Pride's .476 hitting clip thank to five kills from Levinson.

Fan hammered an overpass to give the Brewers a 15-9 advantage in the third, but Springfield would chip away and eventually take a 20-19 edge on an ace by Giancarlo Carrion (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico). Springfield would maintain a 23-22 led on a miscue by the Brewers, but the visitors scored the final three points of the frame to take a 25-23 triumph in a stanza where they hit .476.

The fourth set also featured 14 ties and Springfield took at 20-18 lead on a big swing from Walters.  Vassar would bounce back with a 4-1 push as the Pride burned a timeout, and Rouleau evened the set at 22 with a sideout kill.  However, a pair of attack errors by the hosts down the stretch forced the fifth set as Vassar pulled out the 25-22 victory.

The visitors opened up a 6-3 led when a Pride attack went long as Springfield wasted no time calling a timeout.  The Pride would answer with four-straight points, including a pair of blocks from Mulvaney and Rouleau before Rouleau would crush a ball for the 8-7 lead at the switch.  Mulvaney would team up with Brennan Cutter (Trumbull, Conn.) for a thunderous block at 11-8 and Levinson's 19^th kill of the night gave Springfield set point at 14-9.  The Brewers would later commit their 23rd service error of the match to complete the 15-11 win for the Pride. Springfield hit .500 in the final set and held the Brewers to a .125 hitting percentage.

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