Springfield Lands Spot in Molten Championship

Bill Kauffman April 15, 2011

Photo: Copyrighted by USAV/AVCA

Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship logo

Bill Kauffman
Associate Director, Communications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: bill.kauffman@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 15, 2011) – Springfield College defeated Baruch 25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 25-17 in the first of two semifinals of the Molten Division III Men’s Invitational Volleyball Championship being held on the campus of Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y.

Top-seed Springfield improves to 16-13 on the season and will face the winner of host Nazareth College (29-3) and Carthage College (22-10) in the championship match on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. Springfield is seeking its second consecutive and seventh overall Molten title, which would give the Pride a tournament-record in the 15th and final running of the event. Earlier this year the NCAA approved a Division III men’s championship that will begin in 2012.

Baruch (34-15), seeded fourth in the tournament, falls into the consolation match and will play either Nazareth or Carthage at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Alberto Bravo charted a match-high 17 kills on 34 swings to go with an ace and nine digs in leading Springfield. Mike Pelletier chipped in 13 kills with a .348 hitting efficiency, two blocks, two aces and seven digs. Cal Palumbo, the 2011 AVCA Division III Men's Volleyball Player of the Year, collected 10 kills with a .500 hitting efficiency in addition to two aces and two block assists. Mike Becker set the Pride to a .333 team hitting efficiency with 44 digs.

Eryk Kowalski paced Baruch with 16 kills on 36 attacks, three block assists and an ace. Pablo Oliveira added 12 kills and a block assist to go with eight digs and four assists. Vincent Cruze had a match-high five blocks (two solo and three assisted) to go with three kills and an ace.

Springfield jumped to early leads of 4-1 and 10-4 in the opening set. The Pride maintained much of the lead until Baruch saved three set points in the 25-20 loss. After holding a slim 6-5 advantage in the second set, Springfield outscored Baruch 12-5 to grab an 18-10 lead and cruised to the 25-20 victory. The momentum shifted to Baruch in the third set after it recovered from a 14-13 disadvantage to inch out to an 18-15 lead and the Pride fell 25-22. Baruch looked like it was going to force a fifth set by assuming a 10-5 lead in the fourth set, but Springfield battled back to take a 13-10 advantage on eight unanswered points and went on to win 25-17. Springfield hit .542 as a team in the fourth set after an .071 hitting efficiency in the third set.

Molten U.S.A., Inc. is the “Official Volleyball of the Division III Men’s Invitational Volleyball Championship.” Sports Imports is the “Official Net System Supplier of the Division III Men’s Invitational Volleyball Championship.” Mizuno USA is the “Official Apparel & Shoe Sponsor of the Division III Men’s Invitational Volleyball Championship.”

Tournament History with Final Placing:
2010: 1. Springfield; 2. UC Santa Cruz; 3. Carthage; 4. Nazareth (hosted by Carthage)
2009: 1. Juniata; 2. Stevens; 3. UC Santa Cruz; 4. Ramapo (hosted by Ramapo)
2008: 1. Springfield; 2. Vassar; 3. UC Santa Cruz; 4. Juniata (hosted by Springfield)
2007: 1. Juniata; 2. Carthage; 3. Springfield; 4. Stevens (hosted by Juniata)
2006: 1. Juniata; 2. UC Santa Cruz; 3. Stevens; 4. Rivier (hosted by Stevens)
2005: 1. Juniata; 2. Carthage; 3. Stevens; 4. Medaille (hosted by Stevens)
2004: 1. Juniata; 2. Medaille; 3. UC Santa Cruz; 4. Eastern Mennonite (hosted by Eastern Mennonite)
2003: 1. Springfield; 2. Juniata; 3. La Verne; 4. Stevens (hosted by Juniata)
2002: 1. Springfield; 2. La Verne; 3. NYU; 4. Lehman (hosted by NYU)
2001: 1. Springfield; 2. D’Youville; 3. Clarke; 4. Vassar (hosted by Springfield)
2000: 1. UC San Diego; 2. NYU; 3. D’Youville; 4. Stevens (hosted by Stevens)
1999: 1. La Verne; 2. D’Youville; 3. Clarke; 4. Juniata (hosted by Clarke)
1998: 1. Juniata; 2. La Verne; 3. Springfield; 4. Eastern Mennonite (hosted by Springfield)
1997: 1. Springfield; 2. NJIT; 3. Juniata; 4. UC San Diego (hosted by Juniata)