By River Mitchell
@rivermitchell27
Another dominant season for the Springfield College men’s volleyball team has concluded.
After a season where they compiled a 22-4 overall record and beat powerhouse teams such as Southern Virginia, Vassar and Stevens, the Pride have officially earned a bid to compete in the NCAA tournament.
The Pride had their annual gathering for the selection show at 10 a.m. this past Monday, as they officially learned they’ll be traveling to Carthage University in Kenosha, Wis., where they’ll play the University of Mount Union on Friday. The team currently sits as the No. 4 team in the country according to the AVCA coaches poll, with Mount Union coming in at No. 20.
“We were really excited,” said head coach Charlie Sullivan. “The guys worked hard for this opportunity, and they put themselves in a really good spot to be successful and attain all their goals.”
One of these players being senior middle blocker Chris Rouleau. Rouleau, who has stood out on both sides of the net with 137 kills and 55 blocks, has his eyes set on bringing a national championship back to Alden Street. But regardless of how it plays out, he still has tremendous gratitude and love for the program.
“No matter what happens in the next two weeks, this program has meant everything to me,” Rouleau said. “The experiences I’ve had, no one can take that away from me. I’ve grown as a person [and] a player, but it would be a little disappointing to come up short again. I don’t want to come up short. We’re just going to work hard [and] try to get the job done.”
Many members of the campus community and team were hoping to host the first game of the tournament inside Blake Arena. Springfield anticipated the possibility of this due to a new, numbers based system called the NCAA Power Index (NPI) in place, but the NCAA decided to make Carthage one of the four sites, along with NYU, Stevens and Southern Virginia. All of the teams traveling to Springfield for the game would have been more expensive.
“The committee is the committee and being the fourth NPI team in the country, statistically we should have hosted it but it’s not possible [due to] geographical considerations,” Sullivan said. “We knew that going in, and nothing surprised us. I think we’re ready to go.”
For Rouleau, he looks at this as an opportunity to take care of some unfinished business. The Pride lost in the finale to Carthage in its home gym in the 2022 season when Rouleau was a freshman.
“Got a couple texts from alumni after the selection show,” Rouleau said. “[They said] ‘Get your revenge. Go get vengeance.’ Their careers ended in this gym that we’re playing [in] this weekend. So a little bit of a revenge tour.”
In Sullivan’s 27 years at the helm for the Pride, this will mark the first time that any of his teams have played the Purple Raiders. While Mount Union comes into the tournament boasting an impressive 20-8 record, the Purple Raiders have also struggled against ranked opponents, with their only win being a five set victory against California Lutheran on Jan. 10. Both teams are unfamiliar with each other, as Sullivan gets ready for the big match.
“We’ve been researching them and getting into them a little bit,” Sullivan said. “[Been] trying to put a good scouting report together.”
Rouleau looks at the unfamiliarity of the team as almost a positive, as the Purple Raiders also don’t have much information about the Pride.
“I think us playing a team we’ve never played before, it gives us even more of an advantage,” Rouleau said. “The way we scout, the way Coach Sullivan is able to figure a team out before we see them, we’re going to have the advantage right out of the gate. He’s going to know where their setter is going come Friday. I’m confident that we will have the advantage as far as scouting goes. I think he scouts better than anyone in the country.”
Sullivan has already started on his scouting coming up for the game, as he has identified a few keys to what will help them win come Friday, most of which the Pride will be able to control.
“We just have to be good at all the things we’ve been working on all year,” Sullivan said. “We talk about it after every game. Our system of play, our communication, our culture.”
Another thing the Pride will lean on throughout their playoff run is their serving and passing. Six players on the Pride have at least 20 aces or more, with Jake DesLauriers and Giancarlo Carrion having 39 and 37 respectively.
“Coach says it a lot and we truly believe it, that we’re the best serving team in the country,” Rouleau said. “Whether it’s DesLauriers, Carter [Durivage], Giancarlo [who] has the best serve in the country. He’s a dog back there. Just guys going back there and ripping like we can, and I have a lot of trust in Carter, [Ricardo Ortiz], Jake, whoever it might be to put us in system.”
The Pride leave for Wisconsin on Wednesday, and could return as late as Sunday depending how their game against Mount Union goes. All of their games will also be available to stream on NCAA.com, with the contest against Mount Union starting at 5 p.m. EST on Friday, and if they win, the second game against the winner of Carthage or Aurora slated for 7:30 on Saturday night.