Springfield, Mass. – April 23, 2026 – For the second consecutive season, the top-ranked Springfield College men's volleyball team advanced past Cal Lutheran University in straight sets to reach the 2026 NCAA Division III National Championship match. Springfield won tonight by set scores of 25-20, 25-21, 25-18 in the Division III Semifinals on Thursday evening inside Blake Arena.

Springfield, the No. 1 ranked team in this week's AVCA Division III National Poll, improved to 24-3 and will appear in its tenth NCAA Division III National Championship contest on Saturday night at 7:00 pm against No. 3 Carthage College. Cal Lutheran, which reached the Final Four for the third straight year, ends its season at 22-7.

As a team, Springfield hit .447 and the balanced offense received six or more kills from five different student-athletes. Carter Durivage (East Greenbush, N.Y.) and Sam Levinson (LaGrange, Ill.) both recorded nine kills, while in the middle Will Kirchhoff (Macedon, N.Y.) and Brennan Cutter (Trumbull, Conn.) tallied seven kills apiece. Jake DesLauriers (Easport, N.Y.) added six kills and a team-best seven digs to his stat line. Dylan Mulvaney (Reston, Va.) dished out 36 assists and also tallied five digs and four blocks on the night.

Springfield raced out to an early 12-4 lead in the first as Durivage, Levinson and DesLauriers all tallied kills before a triple block in the middle and an ace by Cutter pushed the Pride in front by eight. The Kingsmen were able to climb back within four late in the set at 22-18 following a 9-3 spurt, but a swing by Kirchhoff through the middle interrupted the Cal Lu offense. Levinson gave Springfield set point and DesLauriers terminated the first as the Pride took it 25-20.

The Pride hit a match-best. 542 in the middle set with 13 kills on 24 errorless swings, but this time it was Cal Lutheran who took the early edge. Matthew Wilcox finished a pass from Gavin Galanski, but Kirchhoff responded and ignited a run of five straight points for Springfield. The two sides went back and forth, but a kill from Levinson and a setter dump by Mulvaney put Springfield within three of taking the second. The Pride took advantage of a pair of Cal Lutheran errors that were sandwiched between a block by Kirchhoff and Levinson to win it 25-21.

Durivage got the scoring started the third before an ace and kill from DesLauriers made it 6-4. Springfield slowly added to its lead and eventually led by as many as six following another kill from Kirchhoff. Cal Lutheran produced three straight points late in the third including a pair of aces from Wilcox, but Springfield notched the final four points of the match including the final one on a triple block by Durivage, Cutter and Mulvaney sending the Pride into the national championship match for the tenth time.

Springfield and Carthage will meet for the third time for a national title on Saturday at 7:00 pm. Springfield defeated the Firebirds, 3-0, in the inaugural Division III Men's Volleyball National Championship in Blake Arena in 2012 and Carthage defeated the Pride, 3-1, in the 2022 national title game in Kenosha. The two sides have combined to win seven of the 13 Division III titles dating back to 2012 with either side playing in the final game of the year in ten times heading into Saturday.

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