Norton, Mass. - September 24, 2024 - The Springfield College women's volleyball team began New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play with a five-set victory at Wheaton College on Tuesday night.  Springfield won by the scores of 25-18, 26-24, 21-25, 20-25, 15-9.

Winners of their last 17 conference regular-season matches dating back to 2022, Springfield improved to 7-3 on the season as it played for the first time since September 14. 

Riley Donahue (South Windsor, Conn.) led all players with 19 kills to go along with 11 digs and three aces, while Natalie Billet (Commack, N.Y.) chipped in 10 kills.  Maeve Voltz (Bay Shore, N.Y.) tallied seven kills and four blocks and Kristen DeLorenzo (Syracuse, N.Y.) concluded the evening with a match-best 16 digs. 

Despite scoring the first four points of the match, Springfield faced a 14-12 deficit midway through the opening frame.  Springfield would score the next three points, capped off by an ace from Ahunna James (Plainville, Mass.), and later score the final seven points of the set as an ace from Donahue wrapped up the 25-18 victory. 

There were nine ties in the second set, but it was Wheaton who was in control in the later stages of the frame with an 18-14 cushion.  Springfield would manufacture an 9-3 push thanks to four kills from Donahue to regain a 23-21 lead before Billet would convert off the block for the 26-24 triumph. 

Even at 18-18 in the third following a block by James and Jodi Saelua (Miliani, Hawaii), Wheaton would notch a pair of aces to fuel a three-point burst as it pulled away with a 25-21 win. 

Voltz converted in the middle to allow the Pride to gain a 12-11 edge in the fourth, but the hosts would rattle off seven-unanswered points to take control en route to forcing a fifth set following a 25-20 win. 

After Wheaton scored the first point of the fifth on a block, Springfield scored the next five points, with Donahue converting in transition to force the Lyons into a timeout.  A kill from Billet gave the Pride an 8-5 lead at the switch and the hosts would get no closer than two points before Saelua put away Springfield's 10th kill of the fifth to complete the win. 

Springfield will return to Blake Arena to square off with nationally-ranked MIT on Saturday at 1 pm in a rematch of last year's conference tournament championship.

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