Springfield, Mass. — October 17, 2026 — The Pride defeated New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opponent and nationally-ranked No. 3 MIT, 3-1, in a Saturday afternoon matchup in Blake Arena by set scores of 25-21, 25-0, 14-25, 25-19.
The Pride improve to 13-4 overall and 5-2 in the conference while the Engineers drop to 15-2, 5-1. MIT entered the contest national-ranked third by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and currently sits at the top of the Division III Women's Volleyball NPI ranking. Today's loss for MIT marks the first regular season NEWMAC contest the Engineers have lost since the 2023 season and is just their second loss of the season.
Tori Colosimo (Fairport, N.Y.) notched her ninth double-double of the season as she filled the box score with 33 assists, 18 digs, four kills, three blocks and a service ace. Alexa Bonato (Woodbridge, Conn.) had 11 kills and two blocks while Ahunna James (Plainville, Mass.) had nine kills, three blocks and three service aces.
Springfield dominated the entire first set as the Pride jumped out to a 13-4 lead with five different student-athletes registering kills to power the run. The Engineers added a few points of their own but Springfield continued to push ahead before MIT went on a 5-1 run to make it 22-18. James notched a kill to move the Pride ahead before two Engineer errors allowed Springfield to get the win, 25-21.
The Pride went on an 8-0 run to take a 9-4 lead early in the second set as Urissa Stephens (Spicewood, Tx.) had two service aces while Colosimo and James notched digs. They then went on a quick 4-0 run highlighted by two service aces from James to take a 13-6 lead. The Engineers would go on a few runs of their own and end up outscoring the Pride 14-12 the rest of the set but the early lead would help Springfield seal the win as Gabbie Weissgarber (Colorado Springs, Colo.) ended the set with a kill, 25-20.
Early in the third, MIT scored five unanswered points to take a 5-2 lead that they would not falter through the rest of the set. Springfield tried to chip away but the Engineers continued to charge ahead and scored four straight points to end the set, 25-14, which was capped off by a kill from Jennifer Cen.
It was a back-and-forth start to the fourth set before, while tied up at 12, Springfield went on a 6-0 run after kills from Bonato and errors from MIT to extend the lead, 18-12. The Engineers looked to come back by scoring four straight points late in the set to make it 23-19 but it was not enough as James notched a service ace for the win, 25-19.
The Pride host Mount Holyoke on Tuesday at 7:00 pm in Blake Arena.
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