Medford, Mass. — October 23, 2026 — The Springfield College women's volleyball team was reverse swept by Tufts on the first day of the New England Challenge, 2-3, on Friday night.
The Jumbos improve to 14-7 overall after defeating Springfield by set scores of 21-25, 19-25, 25-17, 25-12, 15-9 while the Pride drop to 14-5.
Tori Colosimo (Fairport, N.Y.) led Springfield with her tenth double-double of the season as she totaled 26 assists and 14 digs to go along with four kills and two aces. Ahunna James (Plainville, Mass.) had nine kills, nine digs and two blocks while Jodi Saelua (Mililani, Hawaii) had seven kills and four blocks on the night. Karenna Allain (Orange, Conn.) had 11 digs and four service aces.
The Pride took a quick 11-5 lead after going on a 7-2 run at the start of the set which was powered by kills from three different student-athletes and errors from the Jumbos. Tufts quickly got right back in the set, going on a 9-1 run of their own to take the lead, 14-12. Alexa Bonato (Woodbridge, Conn.) then had a kill and a block before and Allain added two service aces to push Springfield ahead and force a Jumbos timeout as the Pride led 20-17. Both teams exchanged points before a kill from Gabbie Weissgarber (Colorado Springs, Colo.) put Springfield at set point as a Tufts error sealed the win for the Pride, 25-21.
Springfield hit a team high .321 in the second set with only one attack error as opposed to nine from Tufts. Through the first half of the set, both teams were evenly matched until Springfield pushed ahead with a four-point spurt sparked by a kill from James that was then followed by a service ace from Avery Chandler (Stoneville, N.C.). The teams then went back-and-forth but the Pride continued to capitalize on Tufts' errors to maintain the lead. A service ace from Colosimo brought the game to set point as Wesisgaber ended the set with a kill for the 25-19 win.
The set was tied at ten before the Jumbos went on a 6-0 run to take a 16-10 lead before Saelua notched a kill and she and Colosimo teamed up for a block to power a three-point spurt to force a timeout from Tufts. Coming out of the break, the Jumbos pushed ahead, going on to outscore the Pride 8-3 through the rest of the set to win the third set, 25-17, after a kill from Tessa Fergusson.
Tufts rolled Springfield in the fourth set as the Jumbos hit a game high .458 for 14 kills to win the fourth set, 25-12, and force a fifth. Tufts jumped out to a quick four-point lead after two kills and back-to-back blocks before continuing to push ahead and take a 10-4 lead. They then went on to an 8-2 run highlighted by kills from multiple student-athletes and attack errors from Springfield to take a 19-9 lead. The Jumbos then went on to score the final four points of the game to win it 15-12.
The Jumbos scored the first point of the fifth set to take a lead that they would not relinquish. After keeping it close early in the set, Tufts scored four straight points to take a 9-3 lead and then pushed ahead before a kill from Claire Castor sealed the win 15-9.
The Pride will face Williams at 11:00 am and Middlebury at 3:00 pm tomorrow for the second day of the New England Challenge hosted by MIT.
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