Springfield Overcomes Tufts 3-0 in NCAA Volleyball Tournament

Courtesy Springfield Sports Information

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. –  The host team, fifth-seeded Springfield College, downed fourth-seeded Tufts, 3 games to 0 in the NCAA  Volleyball Tournament. Regional. Game scores were 25-14, 25-19, 25-20.

With the win, Springfield is now 30-4 overall, while the Jumbos end their season at 22-11.

Saturday's semifinals are thus set for Blake Arena. In match #1, it will be #2-seeded UMass-Boston vs. #3-seeded Middlebury College at 3:30 pm. In match #2, it will be #1-seeded Amherst vs. #5-seeded Springfield at 6 pm.

Tonight's match allowed Springfield to attain a 30-win season, its 10th overall in the history of the women's volleyball program at Springfield.

Lang-Rodean, a senior from Mansfield Center, Conn. who was named the NEWMAC Player of the Year earlier this week, finished with a team-high 11 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Torvi, a junior from North Smithfield, R.I., ended with 10 kills and a .364 hitting percentage.

Kelsea Hellyar, a senior setter from Fairhaven, Mass., had 30 assists and 11 digs. Tessa Smolinski, a freshman outside hitter from Hebron, Conn., also had 11 digs.

For Tufts, certainly the bright light was Caitlin Updike, a senior outside hitter from Manhattan Beach, Calif., who finished with a match-high 14 kills. Junior Cara Spieler (Santa Barbara, Calif.) had a match-high 17 digs, followed by junior libero Audrey Kuan (Los Altos, Calif.) with 16.

Springfield hit .206 as a team. The key stat of the match, however, may have been SC's limiting Tufts to a .000 hitting percentage.

In game #1, SC jumped out to big leads, 7-3 and 15-5. A kill by senior Heather Lively (Royalston, Mass.) finished off the Jumbos in that one. In the second game, it was 17-all, but SC scored eight of the last 10 points. In game #3, Tufts had a 13-11 edge. But at 14-all, the Pride scored five straight points, and that ultimately proved to be the difference.