Springfield Volleyball Edges Wellesley, 3-2

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- In a battle of two of the top teams in the region, it was the Springfield College women's volleyball team that clinched the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament, edging Wellesley College, 3-2, in NEWMAC action on Saturday. Set scores were 25-14, 25-11, 22-25, 24-26, 15-11.

This afternoon's match pitted a pair of the top teams in the NEWMAC and New England against one another, as the Pride entered the match ranked second in the region, while the Blue were fourth in this week's NCAA Regional rankings. The win boosts the Pride's record to 23-5, 9-1 in league play, while the Blue drop to 26-5, 9-1.

Both teams will share the title of NEWMAC Regular Season champions, but Springfield earns the top-seed in the NEWMAC Tournament based on the head-to-head win. Wellesley dips to the #2 seed in the tournament and will host the seventh seed in the NEWMAC Quarterfinals on Tuesday at 7:00pm. 

For Springfield, Kelsey McGayhey continued to shine on the right side, producing a career-high 17 kills, at a .400 clip, to go along with five blocks. Tessa Smolinski added 12 kills and 11 digs and reached a milestone on her first kill of the afternoon, becoming just the fourth player in program history to reach the 1,500 kill mark.

Defensively, Lauren Holt registered a career-best 12 blocks and was instrumental in holding Wellesley to its lowest hitting percentage of the year, .036. Fellow middle Amanda Palladino tallied eight kills while hitting .467 and Amy Entel recorded a team-high 14 digs.

For the Blue, Sydney Carfagno totaled 13 kills and 11 digs, and Caitlin Laughlin posted 12 kills and four blocks. Traci Hamanaka  picked up a team-best 12 digs and Kira Jordan recorded six blocks. Rounding out the Wellesley stat leaders, Maddie Koh dished out 20 assists, while Hilary Ayers picked up 16.

Springfield's Smolinski reached her milestone following one of her all too familiar cut shots, which gave the hosts a 12-5 advantage in the first. Wellesley responded to get within 13-9 on a back row kill by Carfagno, only to have Springfield use a 7-1 push, highlighted by consecutive blocks from Palladino and McGayhey, to gain a 20-10 lead. The Blue were hampered by 11 hitting errors in the first set as the Pride cruised to a 25-14 win.

The Pride's offense continued to roll in the second set as it hit .438. Bolstered by the strong serving of Entel and the outstanding play of McGayhey, Springfield raced out to a 10-2 lead and never looked back to claim the second stanza, 25-11.

The third set featured seven ties and three lead changes as the Wellesley offense combined for 13 kills in the game. After Springfield found itself down 13-10 following a Brooke Fieldman kill, the Pride stormed back with a 5-1 spurt, that was capped off by an overpass kill by Daniella Crismani. Wellesley answered back with a 5-2 burst of their own, using two big swings from Carfagno to regain a lead they would not relinquish en route to a 25-22 win.

Springfield appeared poised to run away with the fourth set after recording six kills on their first seven swings to snag an early 8-1 lead. However, Wellesley scored 17 of the set's next 25 points to gain an 18-16 cushion. The Pride would not go away easily and gained match point after a big swing from McGayhey, only to have the hosts seventh service error of the set even things at 25-all. The Blue went to Carfagno, who registered back-to-back kills to force a fifth set.

In the fifth, Laughlin converted out of the middle to tie the set for the seventh time at 8-all. Smolinski sided out and a Wellesley attack error gave Springfield a two-point cushion, which it would carry into a Wellesley timeout at 12-10 following McGayhey's 17th kill of the day. Carfagno delivered a kill out of the break, only to have a Wellesley service error make it a 13-11 game. Smolinski recorded a gritty kill for set point, and then combined with Holt for a block to clinch the victory.