By River Mitchell
@rivermitchell27
The International Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Classic kicked off with a bang at Blake Arena Friday night in a thrilling five-set match that featured the Springfield College Pride and the Vassar Brewers. Springfield won the match in an intense five sets of action (25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 22-25, 15-11), improving to a very impressive 6-1 on the season.
“It feels really good,” said Pride head coach Charlie Sullivan. “Kind of up and down [a bit], but they kept on believing in themselves and doing their best.”
Vassar, who came into the game as the sixth ranked team in the nation, looked to knock off Springfield at home for the second consecutive year in a row, beating them in five sets last year in Blake Arena. The Pride, however, had other plans.
For starters, first-year student Sam Levinson was a nightmare for Vassar all night, putting up 19 kills, six digs and two aces. Every single ball that went off of Levinson’s hand looked like it was shot out of a cannon.
“I just enjoy the way he’s getting better,” Sullivan said. It’s not like he’s staying [the same]. That’s really cool.”
Ethan Walters also had a game to remember, tallying 15 kills and two aces. Dylan Mulvaney led the team with a whopping 47 assists — a career-high — and was tops in digs with eight. Chris Rouleau added nine kills as well as a team-high six blocks.
Sets one and two were much more forgiving for the Pride than the following two. They found themselves with an early two-set lead after some hard-earned comebacks in both.
Springfield never pulled away from Vassar in the first set, but it was able to come out on top. First-year Brennan Cutter had two kills early on as Levinson had three. The Pride also went on two separate 3-0 runs and scored in four of the last seven rallies to secure the set.
Set two was also just as competitive, as Springfield was forced to battle its way back down 21-19 to score six of the last eight points after Springfield gave up a 4-0 run to Vassar.
They hoped to sweep Vassar out of town, but the Brewers rallied back to send the game to the decisive fifth set, giving up three points in a row to end sets three and four.
However, when down 6-3 early on in set five, the Pride found a way to claw back into the game and win the game. The crowd on hand erupted, as Coach Sullivan also appreciated the atmosphere in Blake Arena that evening.
“It’s a difference maker,” Sullivan said. “It’s really amazing. It helps us play really well.”
The Pride play another game tomorrow, Feb. 3 as a part of the Morgan Classic against the winner of the Lasell v.s. Endicott game tonight.