FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Courtesy of Springfield Athletics Communications
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Springfield College men's volleyball team was announced as the No. 1 seed in the 2019 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship, which will begin this upcoming weekend. The Pride will square off against the winner of a first-round game between Rivier and Arcadia.
Rivier handed Springfield its only only Division III loss of the season back on February 26.
The Pride, who has been the ranked as one of the top two programs in the country for the past 58 weeks of the AVCA Division III National Coaches Poll, earned one of two Pool B bids for independent programs into the field of 14 teams. Springfield enters the championship weekend with a 26-2 record, including a 23-1 record against Division III opponents.
Springfield College will serve as a a host site for an opening weekend pod, as Arcadia and Rivier will compete in Blake Arena on Friday, April 19 at 6 pm. The Pride will await the winner for a Saturday night tilt at 6 pm on April 20, with the winner earning a spot in the national semifinals. The national semifinals will take place at Kean University in Union, N.J.
Ticket prices for the weekend are $6 for adults, $4 for senior citizens and students, and $3 for children.
This marks the third-straight year that Springfield has earned the top seed in the NCAA Division III Championship, and the sixth time overall, as it also was the No. 1 team in the national bracket in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Springfield has played in the last nine Division III national championship matches and is the two-time defending NCAA Division III National Champions. The Pride won three-straight NCAA Division III National Championships after sweeping Carthage in 2012, Nazareth in 2013, Juniata in 2014, before downing New Paltz in 2017 and Stevens in 2018 to secure the championship. Springfield has won a total of 11 Division III National Championships, including five in the past seven seasons.
On the same side of the bracket as Springfield, Endicott will host St. Joseph's (LI) and New Paltz will face Baruch. In the bottom half of the bracket, Carthage will host UC Santa Cruz and MSOE will take on Fontbonne, while 2nd-seeded Stevens will face the winner of Wells and Southern Virginia. The championship continues with two semifinal matches on Friday, April 26 and the championship match on Saturday, April 27 in New Jersey.
The Pride faced Rivier twice earlier this season. Springfield won in four sets over Rivier in N.H. on February 23 before suffereing their only D3 loss this year to the Raiders in Blake Arena just three days later. Springfield and Arcadia have faced each other twice in program history, with the Pride winning both matches in straight sets in 2017 and 2018. Of the 14 teams in field, Springfield has played five of them, owning a 6-1 record this season.