Adding to the shelf

The

Springfield men’s volleyball team swept MIT and NYU to win its seventh consecutive International Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Classic championship.

the Pride, and the bond between Shaw and the team has grown ever since.

“It’s been a special relationship for our team and our program,” Sullivan said.

“Sometimes, I don’t know who’s getting more out of it - our players or Conlan. We look at both these parties and what they’re sharing with each other, and giving each other support.” dominant pace for the remainder of the first set en route to a 25-12 victory in the frame. Anderson, Costley, and Noah Weislo each had a trio of kills in the set. Despite their slow first set, the Engineers started the second set effectively. After the Pride went up 2-1, MIT scored four points in a row, which forced a Springfield timeout. “They just had some really good rallies in game two, so we tried to regroup and kind of get refocused and gain our momentum back,” Sullivan said.

Team IMPACT shirts were also spotted in the Blake Arena crowd to help spread awareness about the cause.

With seven consecutive championship victories in the Morgan Classic, the tournament is Springfield’s until someone takes it from the Pride.

“It’s just hopefully another thing in our unique story at Springfield College,” said Springfield men’s

___ By Chris Gionta @Chris_Gionta

volleyball head coach Charlie Sullivan.

“Hopefully our volleyball team is at that different level, too, so our uniqueness is really important.”

The Pride swept Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Feb. 10 and New York University

(NYU) on Feb. 11 en route to the tournament win.

Prior to Springfield’s first win of the weekend, the Pride’s partnership with Team IMPACT was recognized. In March, Springfield announced 15-year-old Conlan Shaw as a member of

In the match, the Pride were in control from the very start. MIT began with the serve, and Evan Costley provided a kill to put the Pride up 1-0. Following that was a Jarrett Anderson ace before another Costley kill. Next, Anderson landed an additional ace to make it 4-0.

Springfield kept the

The Pride responded to the timeout with three consecutive points on kills from Anderson and Weislo along with an MIT attack error to make it 5-5. The set remained back-and-forth, with the score being tied at 12 about halfway through.

However, from there on, Springfield went on a 13-2 run that won them the set 25-14. The run was powered by three kills from Anderson, two from Noah Weislo, and two service aces from Ethan Weislo.

The Pride continued their control through the third set, where they won 25-15. Anderson played a large factor in the final pair of frames - combining for 11 kills after the first. Overall, he was amazingly efficient with a .591 hitting percentage on 22 attacks.

“It’s intimidating having Jarrett [Anderson] hit the ball at you,” Sullivan said. “I imagine it’s kind of a spike in our momentum when he does really well.”

The next night, NYU proved it was going to be a tough opponent when the Violets started the match with a 10-7 lead.

“[NYU] offered things at a really high level that we hadn’t really seen before,” Sullivan said. “So, we’re a young team - we were kind of figuring it out on the fly. They were a really good team - a lot of fire power, a lot of really good armsthey played really well. That’s gonna be a really good matchup for us when we play again.”

What particularly stood out with NYU were its middle blockers, whose tall presence and spry jumping ability made it difficult for Springfield to deliver the spikes they wanted to.

“Their middles were great,” Sullivan said. “They’re huge, they close well, they’re athletic, they move well, so that was a challenge for us.”

Springfield retrieved control after a service error by NYU, then Jarrett Anderson landed an ace to make it 10-9. After that, two Violet attack errors gave the Pride the lead.

After NYU tied it back up, the two teams underwent the longest rally of the game, where each side hit hard and defended well. Dylan Mulvaney, Noah Weislo, and Chris Rouleau were constantly blocking and recovering the ball in the front row, and it ultimately set up for a Jarrett Anderson kill on a hard spike.

The Pride did not lose their lead for the remainder of the set despite the Violets being competitiveultimately capping it at 25-21.

The second frame went a similar route as the first, with it remaining tight until

Springfield pulled away at the end. NYU held a 16-15 lead before the Pride called timeout and scored three points in a row. That sparked a 9-2 run that brought Springfield to a 24-19 set lead. The Violets got a few back, but it proved too little and too late after Weislo executed a kill for the 25th point.

In the third frame, the Pride scored the first three points and did not let go of the lead for the whole set. Springfield will face a significant challenge in its next match, which will take place on Feb. 16 on the road against No. 4 Vassar at 6 p.m.