Springfield, Mass. – April 9, 2025 – The Springfield College men's volleyball team fell to Division I Merrimack College in four sets to end its regular season slate as the Warriors won by scores of 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23.

Merrimack improved to 13-6 overall, while Springfield fell to 22-4.

AJ Seveland (Jenkintown, Pa.) and Joey Preische (Penfield, N.Y.) led Springfield's offensive unit with 13 kills apiece, while Evan Costley (Simi Valley, Calif.) added nine kills and Will Kirchhoff (Macedon, N.Y.) hit a team-best .545 with seven kills on 11 swings. Seveland, Kirchoff and Cole Kallick (Redondo Beach, Calif.)all recorded three blocks apiece, Dyllan Nguyen (Fountain Valley, Calif.) dished out 41 assists and Ricardo Ortiz (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) led the Pride with nine digs.

Leading by just one at 5-4, Merrimack used a 5-1 run to extend its lead to four following an ace by Davis McCurdy. Springfield got back to within two after back-to-back kills from Preishce, but another spurt by the Warriors – this time 6-3 – secured the cushion for Merrimack for the remainder of the first set as a kill by Isaiah Vogel and a pair of Pride errors gave the first to Merrimack, 25-21. The Warriors produced a match-best 12 kills and hit .348 in set one.

Springfield used two kills from Seveland and a swing from Costley to take an early 3-1 lead in the second, but Merrimack used a 6-1 run of its own to go ahead 6-4. Springfield eventually built its lead to five at 20-15 following kills from Kirchhoff and Preische, but the Warriors ultimately tied the score at 22 and used two kills and an ace from Kai Vogel to take the second 25-23 and a 2-0 lead in the match. Springfield held a 15-11 edge in kills in the second and outhit the Warriors, .256-.194.

Springfield raced out to a 10-3 lead in the third and never looked back to force a fourth set as the Pride took advantage of five errors by Merrimack over the stretch. The Warriors fought back and ended up tying the score at 18, but back-to-back errors from Merrimack and a swing by Kirchhoff pushed Springfield's lead to three. It was three straight kills from Preische that secured the third for the Pride, 25-22. Springfield produced 11 kills in the third and hit .429.

Springfield held a 21-18 lead in the fourth, but Merrimack used a 7-2 set-ending and match-ending run to finish the set 25-23 and the match 3-1. Kirchoff gave Springfield its 21st point off his seventh kill of the night, but Nathan Knapp answered and ignited the set-ending run for Merrimack which featured five kills, an ace and a block.

Springfield will await word of an at-large berth to the 2025 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship Tournament when selections are revealed on Monday at 10:00 am on NCAA.com.

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