This will be an interesting match to write-up. As you may know, the last time I covered Division III volleyball, men’s or women’s in fact, was approximately never. All I’ve ever done is briefly touch on it in season preview pieces. But they do have their own championship, and I’m gonna make like CBS with their men’s basketball coverage and shine the briefest of lights on it.
Our two teams are the Springfield Pride, defending national champions, and site host Nazareth Golden Flyers. Both teams swept in the quarterfinals, and Nazareth likewise over Rivier in the semifinals, while Springfield were extended to a full five by Baruch. This tournament was originally scheduled to be held at MIT, but it was moved out of the Boston area due to security concerns following the Boston Marathon bombing and manhunt (though the second suspect was apprehended a good few days before the tournament began). The Golden Flyers are led by National Player of the Year EJ Wells-Spicer, a senior setter. That selection was not without controversy, as many had tabbed Springfield middle blocker Greg Falcone to be in line for the honour, or possibly Falcone’s teammate Mike Pelletier. Both of the mentioned Springfield players are also seniors and it is a senior-laden final, with five on the Golden Flyers’ roster and eight for the Pride. Nazareth’s kills leader on the season, though, is a freshman, outside hitter Tim Zyburt. The 36-1 Golden Flyers have dramatically outscored opposition this season, picking up almost 14 kills per set themselves while allowing less than 10.
The 31-3 Springfield Pride have run the same core of players most of the season. Alongside Falcone and Pelletier have typically been junior middle blocker Jimmy O’Leary, senior setter Mike Becker splitting time with sophomore Keaton Pieper, freshman outside Luis Vega, and either John Coen or Alistair Matthews at opposite. The kills leader on KPS is Pelletier, with Falcone posting an eye-popping .536 hitting percentage for the season. Springfield haven’t been quite so smothering on offence, coming up with 12.75 kills per set this season to 10.39 for their opponents. These were the top two teams in the final AVCA coaches’ poll for the year, Springfield at #1 and Nazareth at #2.
It seems the crowd were chanting “Defence matters!” before the match, but it likely doesn’t in this matchup, with Nazareth leading the country in kills per set and Springfield leading in efficiency (with Nazareth at #2). This was not likely to be a match featuring endless long rallies.
And the match started with lots and lots of terminating swings. 3-3 was the first rally where the ball went over the net more than twice. It ended with a right-side block for the Pride, much to the delight of the student section they’d travelled. Points on serve were practically non-existent until O’Leary got an ace-serve to put the Pride ahead 7-5. It rebounded off the Nazareth back-row and over the net and out, showing some hitting power. Nazareth rotated Zyburt to service and he got the point back with an ace of his own. Obviously, the Golden Flyers had a strong rooting contingent presence as well, one that chanted “He’s a fresh-man!” a chant that they echoed for Grant Levermore on a later kill. O’Leary and Pelletier denied Zyburt on the left-side block to put the Pride up two at 12-10. The next serve, off Falcone’s hand, elicited an overpass, and the Springfield middle attack ate it up to give the first set its biggest margin at 13-10, prompting Nazareth’s timeout.
The timeout didn’t slow the roll, as Falcone’s first serve back landed for another ace to make it 14-10. Nazareth brought in a serving sub, Connor Ecklund, when they sided out, but his one attempt drilled the net. Never underestimate how hard it is to come into a match cold and rip one. The Golden Flyers got a point back on 15-12 with a hitting error from O’Leary long and wide, and then another when the Pride middle attack whistled for reaching over the plane of the net. Springfield got one back on the rally ending 18-15 with a demolishing right-side block, and then got the other back on the next rally with Becker’s serve forcing only a meek free-ball from the Nazareth side. The Golden Flyers burned their second and final timeout down four at 19-15.
Springfield kept it up coming out of the timeout. Becker’s serve bounced off the the Nazareth reception and hit the ceiling, forcing another free ball that led to Vega’s sixth kill of the set. The next serve was another good one, leading to what would have been a free ball on the Nazareth side — except it didn’t clear the net. Nazareth at last sided out when Becker’s subsequent serve flew long, but you’ll take that on serve ten times out of ten. Springfield extended to seven when the new server Pieper elicited an overpass himself, leading to Vega beating Wells-Spicer’s attempt at a solo block. Springfield reached set point at 24-17, and they put it away on reception with Falcone off the middle attack.
The Pride started off well in set 2, claiming the 4-point lead right out of the chute, their run terminating with a couple of nice left-side double-blocks against Zyburt. The middle attack at last got the Golden Flyers the sideout, but the home fans were largely taken out of the game, now noticeably much quieter than they were in the first set. Zyburt got a point back on 5-2 with an ace to make it within two, but that still didn’t really get the crowd back into it as much as they had been. The Pride made the most of their rotations with Pelletier in the front row, as he sided out on pretty much every opportunity to do so. 8-5 was a rare long rally, ending with Nazareth claiming a sideout on a left-side kill. Miscommunication for Nazareth on serve reception at 9-6, as their pass and set were both fine, but the ball just slid off the hitter’s hand, suggesting that he was expecting to ‘fake’ his hit rather than actually swing. After Robert Kraft‘s hit attempt on 10-6 flew long, I expected Nazareth to call time. They held off, but Becker’s ace on the next serve gave them little choice to expend it, down 12-6.
Just like in both timeouts in set 1, the timeout did nothing to stop the roll. On 13-6, Nazareth did an amazing job to keep a ball alive, with libero Dan Mowery running under the net — which is legal provided it doesn’t disrupt the opposing team — passing back to his teammate on the other side outside the antenna, and they were able to return a free ball. But eye-popping defence like that rarely leads to a successful attack, and this was no exception. Man of the match on service was Mike Becker, as this run came on his serve just as one did in set 1. And again, just as in set 1, only a Becker service error sided the Golden Flyers out. Nazareth stayed in the game, taking three in a row on serve themselves to prompt Springfield’s timeout, with their lead down to 16-10.
Springfield’s timeout did the trick Nazareth’s couldn’t, as the Golden Flyer server shanked his attempt coming back. Pieper rotated to service at 17-10 and quickly quieted the crowd again. His first serve landed for an ace, and the second led to a Springfield block. Vega took to the service line at 21-11 and landed an ace by Wells-Spicer who, if he were a baseball outfielder, you might say he lost it in the sun. Another point on Vega’s serve doubled the Pride up on the Golden Flyers at 22-11, and the homestanding team called their last timeout, surely to discuss set 3 preparations. Serving down 24-13, needing 11 straight to force extras, Nazareth’s serve was about as bad as you could imagine, barely even grazing the bottom of the net.
After the briefest of halftimes, Nazareth took their first lead in recent memory by claiming the first two points of set 3. It didn’t last for long, as Pelletier took care of a Golden Flyer overpass on 3-2 and Levermore’s hit sailed long on the next ball to put the Pride back on top. 6-5 Nazareth was a long rally, only about the third of the match, ending with Springfield getting the sideout. Nazareth were whistled for a net fault on 6-all, prompting the Springfield contingent to let loose with the dumbest, most insipid chant I hear in sport crowds — “You can’t do that!” Just plain silly.
Nazareth edged ahead 8-7 when O’Leary’s attempt at a hit resulted in a whiff. The Golden Flyer service error to make it 8-all sent Becker back to serve, but this time they sided him out after just the one attempt, an obviously big improvement over sets 1 and 2. A kill from Luke Lawatsch put the Golden Flyers ahead 10-8 but Pelletier had the answer after the Pride sideout, making it even once more at 10. Coen came up with the right-side kill on the next ball to put the Pride back ahead, but Lawatsch came up with two once more to again give the lead to the Golden Flyers. A kill for Pelletier put the Pride back on top 13-12, as neither side could pull away in this one. As if sick of the constant seesaw, Springfield called time when Nazareth regained the lead again at 15-13.
Nazareth kept their run going out of the timeout, taking their first 3-point lead in a very long time with a middle attack kill off a Springfield overpass. That, for the first time in a while, got the crowd back into it a little more. The lefty swinger Matthews, who didn’t start, came up with a spark when subbed in here, his kill getting the sideout for the Pride and two on serve making it a tie set once again at 17’s. Surprisingly, it was Ecklund running the Golden Flyer offence for most of set 3, with Wells-Spicer grabbing some pine. Springfield expended their second timeout trailing 20-18. A sideout sent the lethal Becker back to serve at 20-19, and he knotted the set once more at 20. Zyburt’s kill got the Golden Flyers the sideout they needed to keep Becker from going on a long run. A crucial point came on 22-21 Nazareth as Falcone’s hit was well long, but was ruled to have touched hands. Nazareth’s coach Cal Wickens protested the call, but to no avail. With a kill for Vega on his own serve, Springfield went ahead 23-22, prompting Nazareth’s timeout.
Vega’s serve back from the timeout trickled over the net and looked like it might have been headed out, but Nazareth played it. They went to the left-side attack with Alex Houghtalen but his attempt landed out with no touch. On national championship point, Springfield’s big star Falcone ended his college career the way you dream about, sealing it by leading a double block up the middle.
#1 Springfield d. #2 Nazareth (25-18, 25-13, 25-22)
Vega was named tournament Most Outstanding Player, after his 13/1/19 hitting line tonight tied with Pelletier to lead the Pride in kills. Falcone added seven kills, an ace, and the sort of block dreams are made of. The Pride did a lot more on defence than I was expecting in the match, coming up with 30 digs (to just 18 for the Golden Flyers) and holding Nazareth to just a .133 hitting efficiency. The Pride had as many kills in just the last two sets as the Golden Flyers had in the whole match. Set 2 was statistically even more gruesome for the Golden Flyers than it looked, as they had just five kills and hit negative for the set. Lawatsch led the way for the Golden Flyers with 8 kills on 12 errorless swings, but it was a bad day at the office for pretty much all the rest of their scorers, with Kraft hitting just .182 on the day, Zyburt hitting triple-zeroes, and and Levermore and Houghtalen both deeply in the red.
Congratulations to the Springfield Pride on their second straight national championship. A three-peat looks to be a tall order with nearly half their 2013 roster being lost to graduation, but Vega looks like a nice piece to build around. In any event, they can savour this one as long as they like. They are national champions.
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