Springfield, Mass. – February 28, 2024 – The Springfield College men's volleyball team earned its fourth five-set victory of the season as it prevailed over Nichols in Blake Arena on Wednesday night by the set scores of 25-20, 23-25, 15-25, 25-16, 18-16.

Ranked fourth again in this week's AVCA/NVA Division III National Poll, Springfield moved to 14-2 and has had its last three victories all come in five sets.  Nichols was ranked 11^th nationally this week and falls to 15-3.

Sam Levinson (La Grange, Ill.) delivered a match-high 16 kills to go along with seven digs and five blocks, while Chris Rouleau (Bay Shore, N.Y.) turned in 13 kills and five blocks in the middle and Evan Costley (Simi Valley, Calif.) chipped in 14 kills and four aces.  Dylan Mulvaney (Reston, Va.) was credited with 54 assists in pacing the Pride to a .392 team hitting percentage and Ricardo Ortiz (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) recorded a team-best 12 digs.

Nichols was paced by 15 kills from Jack Normandin, while Tanner Soracco stuffed his stat sheet with 13 kills, seven digs, four blocks, and three aces.  Despite being outkilled by a 65-48 margin, Nichols benefitted from 28 Springfield service errors. 

Giancarlo Carrion (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) ripped an ace out of a Nichols timeout to give Springfield a 10-3 advantage in the first.  The visitors would battle back to get within 22-20 on a block from Carlos Mercado and Dylan Knapp, but Joel DeCamp (Simi Valley, Calif.) would side out to kickstart a set-ending 3-0 push that was capped off by an ace by Costley.  Springfield totaled 18 kills at a .517 clip in the frame, with Levinson and Ethan Walters (St. Louis, Mo.) each putting away five kills.  

A kill from Costley put the hosts up 18-15, only to have the Bison respond with three-consecutive points to knot things up.  Even at 21-all, Springfield committed three attack errors in a row as Nichols escaped with the 25-23 win.  Springfield's attack, service, and reception errors accounted for 16 Nichols points in the stanza.

The visitors carried that momentum into the third and cruised to a 25-15 triumph, hitting .478 and limiting Springfield to a .174 hitting percentage.  Normandin was dominant for Nichols, totaling six kills on eight errorless attempts.

Tied up a 4-4 in the fourth, Springfield put together a 6-2 push that ended in a thunderous kill from Rouleau.  Mulvaney would lead the Pride to a .636 hitting percentage in the 25-16 victory as both Levinson and Rouleau accounted for five kills. 

In the fifth, it was Nichols that earned an 8-5 lead at the switch and would cling to an 13-11 lead as the Pride called for a timeout.  Springfield would answer with the next two points, highlighted by a huge block from DeCamp and Costley to make it 13-all.  Kills from Levinson and James Browning (Santa Monica, Calif.) allowed the Pride to earn match point at 15-14, but the teams would trade the next three points to be tied up at 16.  Browning was able to chip a kill off the block for match point and Mulvaney found Costley coming out of the back row in transition for his fourth kill of the fifth to complete the 18-16 triumph.
 
The two teams will meet up again this Saturday when the Pride travel to Nichols for a 2 pm clash.
 
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