By Liam Reilly
@liampreilly852
SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield College women’s volleyball team thumped Clark 3-0 at Blake Arena. The Pride are now 21-5 and 8-2 at home.
Springfield opened the match fired up, launching kills that Clark struggled to return. Junior Ahunna James opened up an early six-point lead for the Pride after firing an attack to the middle of the Cougars defense. Clark’s struggles continued to hinder them late in the set as multiple attack errors and an ace from senior Emily Keaveney put Springfield up 21-7. The Pride put away the set 25-9 after a kill from sophomore Alexa Bonato and first year Carr Arrington’s first collegiate kill.
In the set two Springfield’s offense was all gas no brakes, leaping out to a 6-0 lead that forced Clark to use a timeout early. Halfway through the set the Pride subbed in their younger players who picked up where the starters left off, leading the set 16-7 after two kills from sophomore Eva Dudley. Seeing the team’s younger players play well was pleasing for head coach Moira Long to see.
“That was great,” Long said. “They went in and did their job. It’s nice to see people who have worked hard to get that opportunity.”
The second set ended with Emily Keaveney picking apart the Cougars’ defense for four aces in a row, closing out the set 25-9.
Clark entered the third set down 2-0 with a chip on its shoulder, forcing Springfield into committing several offensive errors. The Cougars took an 8-6 lead early, but the Pride were slowly chipping away until taking the lead back after a block from junior Tori Colosimo and first year Aubrey Hughes gave them the advantage, 15-13. Springfield carried their momentum into the late stages of the final set by outscoring Clark 10-5 and finishing the set 25-15 after a match-ending kill from Colosimo.
The Pride’s win marks their 21st of the season. Springfield won in dominant fashion tonight in a win that was filled with energy. Colosimo spoke on the team’s motivation coming into tonight’s game.
“We focus on coming in hot and coming in playing Springfield volleyball,” Colosimo said. “We focus a lot on our intensity and our energy and so that’s what we wanted to bring into today’s game.”
Colosimo made a huge impact in tonight’s match as she notched 29 assists, 10 digs, five aces, two blocks and one kill.
“Tori served them off the court,” Long said. “She had 10 digs and did a good job running the offense.”
The Pride don’t play until next Tuesday which is the last week of regular season play. They’ll travel to Salve Regina on Tuesday night and will host Babson Saturday afternoon for the last game of the season.
“We want to go with a lot of energy and we’re going to focus on one game at a time,” Colosimo said. “We have Salve on Tuesday so that’s our focus right now.”
Photo Courtesy by Liam Reilly/Springfield Student