Fairfield, Conn. - April 9, 2024 - In its final action of the regular season, the Springfield College men's volleyball team delivered a come-from-behind five-set victory against Sacred Heart on Tuesday night by the set scores of 28-26, 19-25, 27-29, 25-14, 15-13.

In what marked the Pride's fifth five-set victory of the 2024 campaign, Springfield improved to 19-6.  It will now await its postseason fate into the NCAA Division III Championship Selection Show, which will air on NCAA.com on April 15 at 10 am.

Going up against the Division I Pioneers, Dylan Mulvaney (Reston, Va.) led Springfield to a .319 hitting percentage as he dished out a career-high 57 assists to go along with 10 digs. The Pride's middle hitters were dominant as Chris Rouleau (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and Will Kirchoff (Macedon, N.Y.) totaled 22 on 34 errorless attempts, with Rouleau adding a team-best four blocks.  Carter Durivage (East Greenbush, N.Y.) tacked on 13 kills, Evan Costley (Simi Valley, Calif.) registered 14 kills at a .500 clip, and Ricardo Ortiz (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) ended the evening with a match-high 15 digs. 

The first set featured 19 ties as the Pride turned an early 10-6 deficit into a one-point advantage on a kill by Costley to cap off the five-point surge. Sacred Heart would fight off a trio of set points before kills from Kirchoff and Noah Weislo (Orchard Park, N.Y.) pushed Springfield to the 29-27 victory. 

Even at 4-4 in the second, the Pioneers scored the next point points to force the Pride into a timeout.  The hosts lead would balloon to 19-12 before its 16th kill of the set concluded the 25-19 victory. 

Rouleau put away a kill and followed with an ace in the third as Springfield gained a 19-16 lead.  However, Sacred Heart would battle back to gain set point of their own at 25-24 on a timely ace and the hosts would outlast Springfield in a 29-27 victory. 

The Pride reset to start the fourth, with Mulvaney connecting for a pair of aces to help the visitors jump out to a 7-1 cushion. After Sacred Heart pulled within 9-6, the Pride answered with a 6-1 push to blow open the set at 15-7 as it cruised to the 25-14 win.  Springfield held Sacred Heart to a .048 hitting percentage en route to forcing a fifth set.

Springfield registered 10 kills at a .563 clip in the fifth and found itself trailing 10-9 in the later stages of the stanza.  However, Sacred Heart would have back-to-back swings sail long before an Ethan Walters (St. Louis, Mo.) kill and huge block from Costley and Rouleau made it a 14-11 contest in favor of the Pride.  Costley would later complete the comeback as he thumped a swing in transition, his third kill of the set, to wrap up the Pride's regular season. 

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