By Liam Reilly
@liampreilly852
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield College women’s volleyball team swept Mount Holyoke College on Saturday Afternoon at Blake Arena. The win pushes the Pride to 14-5.
Springfield was off to the races in set one, creating a 6-1 lead after an impressive dig by Kristen DeLorenzo to keep Mount Holyoke at bay. The Lyons mounted a small scoring streak until Tori Colosimo halted the effort with a kill. The Pride held onto their early lead, and won the set 25-12.
Mount Holyoke’s woes continued as they trailed 6-2 after Riley Donahue slammed a bullet of a spike into Blake Arena’s floor. The Pride extended their lead to 16-10 after kills from Jodi Saelua and Maeve Voltz. With a similar fate from set one looming, Lyons head coach Iris Carpio called a timeout to regroup. However, the much needed break didn’t stem the tide, as Springfield took the second set, 25-18.
Looking to avoid their 26th sweep by the Pride, the Lyons still had some fight left in them, breaking out to an early lead in the third set 7-4. Springfield took the lead back, but Mount Holyoke played close, only trailing by three. Kills by Natalie Billet and Donahue pushed the score to 18-13, with the Pride eventually winning 25-20 and completing the sweep.
The clash was Springfield’s Senior day, honoring the hard work and dedication of the team’s graduating players. There are six seniors for the Pride: Natalie Billet, Hailey Deguire, Riley Donahue, Morgan Stafford, Kylie Wixted, as well as graduate student Kristen DiLorenzo, who were honored before the game.
“The chemistry between [the seniors] is super strong from four years of connection,” Billet said. “Even with Kristen coming this year, we feel super close to her. We all wanted to do it for each other today.”
Billet had a strong game for the Pride on both sides of the ball, tallying eight kills, three aces and nine digs. Switching to offense and defense hasn’t been difficult for Billet.
“When I’m in the front row, my focus is doing my job as an offensive player and then as I move to the back I focus more on my defensive role,” Billet said. “Doing each part of your job one part at a time is how I do it.”
The match highlighted what has been an excellent season for Billet. So far, she’s recorded 181 points and 113 digs — third on the team for both. Springfield head coach Moira Long noted that Billet has seen tremendous improvement on the court since her first year.
“Natalie’s grown so much as a person, player and leader,” Long said. “We’re so proud of how she’s come along with her passing, but it’s her leadership that she’s grown the most.”
The Pride will be back in Blake Arena on Tuesday Oct. 22, to take on Wellesley at 7 p.m.