In the first game of the annual International Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Classic, the No. 6 ranked Springfield College Pride took on the always tough No.1 ranked New York University. This was the second game of the day, as Illinois Wesleyan defeated Arcadia University in three straight sets. This game also ended in three sets, ending with the Pride getting swept by the Violets (33-31, 25-20, 26-24). This puts Springfield at 8-2 on the season.
“Very disappointing,” said Pride head coach Charlie Sullivan. “ [We] didn’t play well. Terrible rallies and blew our potential.”
The first set featured an early offensive explosion from junior Carter Durivage, tallying three kills in a row early on to give the pride a quick 4-2 lead. NYU quickly came back, and with the set tied at five, Springfield went on one of those runs they’re so accustomed to going on. This one featured five straight from the Pride, highlighted with two kills from Brennen Cutter and the help of two attack errors from Violets Lucas Osiecki. However, this didn’t stop the No. 1 ranked NYU. Now 14-8 in Springfield’s favor, NYU scored the next four in a row to cut the deficit to two. Springfield still continued to maintain their lead however, even pushing the lead back up to four points. Now 19-15 Springfield, Giancarlo Carrion delivered an electric ace off the bench, firing a ball right in between all the players on NYU. Then putting one in the net for a service error, Osiecki came in and did the same thing; delivering an ace before committing a service error.
Now the score was 23-22, Springfield holding a tight lead. Luke Boyer on NYU fired a ball out of bounds, giving Springfield a chance to strike. However, Pride setter Dylan Mulvaney also sent it out of bounds on the serve, even tying the game after a Carter Durivage attack error. The two teams battled back and forth, with Springfield and NYU both taking one point leads, neither of them able to get up two points up on each other. The set went all the way to 31-31, before NYU ended up finally pulling away on back-to-back attack errors by Carter Durivage, taking a 1-0 lead over Springfield in a thrilling 33-31 first set.
After the electrifying first set, Chris Rouleau got the Pride started with an early kill. After this, the Violets came back to score the next three points with an ace by Evans Emerson and a kill by Luke Boyer got NYU off and running before Springfield rallied right back, as another ace by Carrion sent the crowd and Springfield bench into pandemonium, tying the set at 9-9. In the midst of another super close and hard fought set, the two teams continued to partake in a close battle. Now 13-13, each team exchanged points until NYU finally got a two point lead with the game at 18-18 off of kills by Boyer, Ry Kagen, Osiecki and Emerson. Holding momentum yet again in the set and looking to go up 2-0, the Violets took care of business, ending the set on a block by Buddy Cohen and Devyn Nguyen, resulting in another attack error against Durivage.
Now in a situation to close out the game in three sets, the Violets got to work quickly, with several Springfield attack errors and a few kills sprinkled in, finding themselves up 7-4. Still holding onto a slight 9-7 lead, Nguyen softly lofted a serve. Springfield let it go thinking it might fall out, falling just inbounds for the ace. After a bad set by Mulvaney, Sullivan quickly called a timeout.
Springfield, slowly but surely, started to crawl their way back into the set with the help of a few service errors and Chris Rouleau and Joey Preiesche. This helped the Pride get back to 16-15, looking to take the third set in hopes of pulling off the always challenging reverse sweep. Down to their very last breath with the score 24-19, Springfield got a point on the Evans attack error, before Joey Preische delivered back-to-back kills. Boyer committed an attack error followed by a Carter Durivage kill, tying the game at 24-24. Looking to stay alive, NYU came away with huge back-to-back kills from Kagen and Osiecki.
From here on out, Sullivan will also be looking to his players to lock in for tomorrow’s game, and the rest of the season.
“It’s up to them,” Sullivan said. “It’s their season. I’m just the cruise director.”
On the second day of the International Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Class, the Pride took on the Arcadia University Knights. The two teams played in the consolation game starting at 6 o’clock, after Arcadia lost yesterday to Illinois Wesleyan and the Pride lost to NYU, both in three sets. After a tough loss the day before, the Pride came back to win in three sets (25-15, 25-16, 25-16). The win moves the Pride to 9-2 on the season.
“Nice team effort,” said Pride head coach Charlie Sullivan. “The whole roster played, so it’s good. We just got to get in the gym Monday, regroup, go back to the drawing board and see what we can do here.”
The Pride got off and running very quickly in the first set, dominating Arcadia early on. After a kill by Brennen Cutter got the set started, Knight’s Tucker Elicio got a kill. From here, Springfield went on a 9-0 run, with Giancarlo Carrion collecting two aces as well as remaining on the service line the entire run. Delivering terrific serve after serve, the Knights were forced to do whatever they could to avoid the ace, often being forced to deliver soft attacks over to Springfield. This allowed Springfield to get in a good position to deliver the ball to the outside hitters and middle blockers, with Jake DesLauriers having three kills as well as Chris Rouleau and AJ Seveland with one.
“It’s a very hard role [that Carrion plays,” Sullivan said. “Very hard job to do, and he does it extremely well. He’s the differential. Two or three rallies we got for free from Giancarlo.”
The Pride continued to keep that lead between them and Arcadia for the remainder of the set, eventually winning the set 25-15. Rouleau and DesLauriers ended up with three kills after the first set, with Seveland having two of his own. The Pride also ended the set with a hitting percentage of .563, with Arcadia coming into the second set at .167.
Entering the second set, Arcadia got out to a slight lead before Springfield went on another run, this time scoring seven in a row, capped off by three aces in a row by AJ Seveland. The Pride lead ballooned to 9-4, and they continued to cruise through the game.
“[Seveland is] doing really well in the gym as well,” Sullivan said. “Working hard and getting a little more focus.”
Yet again, that one run early on in the set helped boost them to a significant lead in which they wouldn’t look back. With some Arcadia points sprinkled in, Springfield continued to play hard, getting a laundry list of players to contribute. This featured an ace from Will Kirchhoff, and kills from Evan Costley, Cole Kallick, Joey Preische and Kyle Johnson. Costley had four kills in this span, as the Pride continued to cruise to another convincing set victory, now looking to go for the sweep.
Springfield got out to another quick lead in the third set, getting a run of three points in a row twice in the first third of the set. Every single one of these points came off of attack errors, giving the Pride points and an early cushion. For the remainder of the set, Joey Preische went on to collect four more kills to help Springfield propel themselves to another set victory.
The Pride travel to Russell Sage on Tuesday, before hosting Vassar on Saturday, Feb. 22.
Photo courtesy of Springfield Athletics