By River Mitchell
@rivermitchell27
Finding themselves down 24-20 in the first set of the game, the Springfield College men’s volleyball team needed to find a way to stop the SUNY New Paltz attack that had been giving it trouble up to that point in the game. Up to that point, the Pride had not only struggled to go on those big runs they are so accustomed to, but also couldn’t seem to stop Pat Wing’s offensive prowess, having seven kills at that point in the game.
Once Mike Handell of the Hawks delivered the final blow giving Springfield a 1-0 deficit, the Pride lost their first first-set loss of the season since their matchup in California against Concordia University Irvine.
In uncharted waters, the Pride only had one option — to do anything possible to climb their way back into this game.
However the Pride evidently would lose in five sets (21-25, 19-25, 25-17, 25-14, 10-15) giving the Pride their third loss of the year.
“We just had too many errors in game five,” said Pride head coach Charlie Sullivan. “Can’t play in game five with that many errors.”
This game was also a very special game for the Pride as well, dedicating the game to raising awareness for Team IMPACT, a non-profit organization aiming to give people facing serious illnesses or disabilities opportunities life changing experiences by being paired with a college sports team.
Conlan Shaw, a brain cancer survivor, was matched with the team through Team IMPACT and has been a warming presence for the Pride and Coach Sullivan.
“It’s a tremendous impact he’s had,” Sullivan said. “He’s inspirational for our guys and our guys have done a good job incorporating him into everything. We love having him a part of everything so it’s really easy. Overall it’s been an amazing experience.”
Set two, similar to set one, found the Pride in the hunt late into the set with the game tied at 15. Still to this point, the Pride were neck for neck, having not scored more than two straight points up to that point in the set. Down by one, Wing delivered what seemed to be a back breaking ace which was followed by another impressive block by Christopher Larkin. Now up by three, the Hawks continued to play solid ball, with a Ethan Walters service error sending the Pride into an early and unfamiliar 2-0 hole.
However, set three saw the Pride rebound very nicely to start out the set. Getting up to an 8-4 lead early on and finally being able to go on a good run scoring 6 of 7 points before the timeout. The Pride continued to play relentless volleyball for the remainder of the set and cruised to a very convincing set three victory.
“We just served them more aggressively,” Sullivan said. “They were serving well to start so it was rough to handle their serve.”
With momentum back on the Pride’s side, the Pride yet again started out the set strong leading 8-5 after a huge ace from Dylan Mulvaney sending New Paltz into the timeout. Mulvaney followed it up with another ace after the timeout, and the Pride never looked back. The Pride continued to cruise through the rest of the set and continued to play the championship level volleyball that Coach Sullivan has preached all year. Blowing out New Paltz 25-14, the game was tied and started to look like a completely different game.
Now it was down to the all decisive fifth set. Very similar to sets one and two, the set was a very tight match but New Paltz seemed to have the slight edge the entire time. The Pride, going into the timeout found themselves down by a slim 10-8 margin. From there, New Paltz would take five of the next seven points and defeat the Pride in heartbreaking fashion.
The Pride have the next two and a half weeks off, and come back from spring break where they will host a Tri Match where they will play Russell Sage and Hunter college.
Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics