By River Mitchell
@rivermitchell27
In the final home game of the regular season, the No. 10 ranked Springfield College Pride took on the No. 14 ranked MIT Engineers in a highly anticipated matchup that showcased two of the best Division III teams in the country. It was a hard fought battle from start to finish, but Springfield fell just short in five sets (19-25, 25-16, 25-21, 24-26, 15-17). This pushed the Pride’s record to 17-5 on the season, and marks the second game in a row with a loss.
However, even after the tough defeat, Pride head coach Charlie Sullivan still was some positive takeaways from the game.
“If you’re looking at wins and losses it’s frustrating, but I thought we played better today,” Sullivan said. “We took some steps forward [and] the guys did a nice job.”
Since it was the last home game of the year, the Pride recognized their two seniors, Rami Moursi and Paolo Mondini as a part of senior day. Both set to graduate in May, Sullivan has really enjoyed having the new on the team.
“They’ve been great contributions,” Sullivan said. “They don’t play a lot and they’re still contributing which is a testament [to them]. They’re really great guys.”
Set one saw the Pride get out to an early lead, as they found themselves with a leg up on MIT 6-2. However, the Engineers would very quickly counter back with an offensive attack of their own. Highlighted by a great first set by Engineers opposite hitter Nicholas Gustafson, who had five kills showcasing his skills early on.
The Engineers had two separate runs of four and seven, and Springfield couldn’t quite recover. While Sam Levinson had four kills alongside Chris Rouleau and James Browning with three, the Pride’s seven extra attack errors and lower hitting percentage gave MIT the 1-0 lead.
Set two, unlike set two, saw both teams pretty much even. When Springfield found themselves down 4-3 early on the set, Rouleau started to get hot. With four of the next five Springfield points coming from kills by Rouleau, Dylan Mulvaney decided to get in on the action with a kill of his own.
From here, Springfield started to run away with the second set, and similar to a freight train rumbling down the tracks, they could not be stopped. An Ethan Walters ace would cap off the Pride’s at 9, and gave the Pride a very comfortable lead at 13-4. As hard as they tried, MIT couldn’t get back into the set, and tied the game at a set a piece.
Similar to the set prior, set three found both teams right in the mix, with the score tied at eight. MIT started out the set strong, but Springfield was able to counter before it got too out of hand. With MIT holding on by a very tight lead at 13-11, the Pride scored the next three in a row which was finished with a very nice kill by Walters to get them back in front.
The game stayed close for most of the set as well. Tied at 16, Giancarlo Carrion delivered a wicked ace to put the Pride up one, and immediately followed it up with another ace, which got the Springfield sideline and the crowd in Blake Arena roaring.
Now 18-16, still neither team was really able to pull away. The Engineers scored three of the next four points tying the game at 19 before Rouleau came up with another big kill to put the Pride back in front. From here, the Pride found some lightning in a bottle as Evan Costley came up with three huge kills for the Pride, giving them a hard fought and well deserved set victory to put them within one set of ending the game for good.
However, set four saw a shift in MIT’s favor. Starting out with an early lead at 8-5, the Pride quickly retaliated with three points of their own, and from here the set remained really tight with the score being knotted up at 15 midway through set four.
After Phillip Johnson delivered a kill for the Engineers, Gustafson delivered a huge ace, forcing Springfield to call a timeout. Now down by two, the Pride fought their way back to a tie game, finding themselves only five points away. With the score again tied, this time at 20, it stayed close as both teams battled back and forth. Tied at 24, Johnson delivered a massive kill followed directly by Ryan Espinoza ace which would send the game to the all decisive fifth set.
With the drama in the air with every point scored extra amplified, the two teams essentially traded points for a while, only being down 8-7 when it was time to switch sides on the court. With the score still tied at 9-9 rapidly approaching the end of the fifth set, the energy in Blake Arena was intensified, as all fans in attendance continued to watch the showdown that was taking place.
Down to the wire, with the Pride one point away from victory, Jensen Fisken delivers two back breaking aces. All of a sudden now, MIT had taken control and put themselves in the driver’s seat of the game. After a game saving kill from Rouleau, Gustafson delivered a huge kill forcing Springfield to go into the timeout.
Now down 16-15, the Pride we’re down to there last breath. However, a Dylan Mulvaney attack error sealed the deal, and the Engineers erupt with excitment after being down in the set 12-14.
The Pride will play their next game in Poughkeepsie, NY., against Vassar and Hunter College in a Tri Match at Vassar.