By Liam Reilly
@liampreilly852
SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield College women’s volleyball team faltered on Saturday against Babson and lost 3-0 in Blake Arena. The Pride are now 22-6 and 8-3 at home.
Springfield began set one in a close battle with Babson, but several attack and service errors gave the Beavers a 10-5 lead. Babson’s lead was cut down to one as multiple members of the Pride notched a kill, however the Beavers quickly rebuilt their lead. Springfield’s offense had a small spark in the late stages of the first set, but Babson held strong and won the first set 25-20.
The second set was another close battle with Springfield down 9-6 after back-to-back kills from Babson. The Pride took their first lead of the second set when first year Delaney McGee sent a serve that the Beavers struggled to return, notching the score at 14-13. Babson then outscored the Pride 12-3 to end set two 25-17, with the Pride’s three points being kills from senior Emily Keaveney and first-year Aubrey Hughes.
Springfield’s offense hit another spark to start set three, as junior Ahunna James opened up the set with a rifle of a kill, and junior Jodi Saelua followed that up with a trio of kills to give the Pride a 7-3 lead. Babson chopped down Springfield’s momentum throughout the middle of the third set to bring the score to 19-17. The Pride had a three-point spurt to take back the lead until the Beavers offense took over and ended the set and match, 25-22.
The match against Babson marked Springfield’s last regular season game. The Pride are now locked into the three seed, with Babson being the second and MIT as the one seed for the second year in a row. Head coach Moira Long noted what the team needs to work on before they enter the NEWMAC Women’s Volleyball Championship Tournament.
“From a skill standpoint, blocking,” Long said. “We did not block well at all and that’s not to take anything away from Babson, I thought they played really well. We need to do a better job offensively when they’re committed on our middles to get a one on one or to be able to move our middles around so they can get the ball because they didn’t get the ball nearly as much as we needed them to.”
Springfield doesn’t take the court again until Tuesday night when the NEWMAC Championship Tournament kicks off. The Pride will host in the quarterfinal round at Blake Arena and will play six seed Emerson. Springfield traveled to play the Lions earlier this season and won 3-1.
Photo by Liam Reilly/Springfield Student