November 3, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Felicia J. Prater
(305) 205-4236

Volleyball Falls to Springfield in NEWMAC Quarterfinals

Northampton, MA: The Pioneers fell to local rival Springfield 0-3 tonight in quarterfinal action of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Volleyball championship. With the loss, the Pioneers end the season 7-19 while the Pride improved to 27-6 and advanced to the semifinals.

The Pride won the first set despite Smith jumping out to an early lead. Springfield rattled off a 10-0 run as Smith committed 6 errors and dropped the set 9-25. In the second set, despite Springfield's 6-0 run, Smith battled back to make it a 12-11 ball game after junior Laurel Belton's (San Bernadino, CA) kill. Despite the rally, the Pioneers couldn't take the lead ultimately losing the set 17-25. In set three, the Pride's offense proved to be to much for Smith and mimicked the second set in favor of Springfield giving them the sweep 16-25.

Senior Mikal Minarich (Hobart, IN) led the Pioneers with 8 kills, 8 digs, one service ace and one block assist while classmate Brianne Connizzo (Demarest, NJ) added 12 digs. Juniors Lauren Martinez (Phoenix, AZ) and Belton contributed 12 assists, 4 digs, 2 kills and 2 aces and 7 digs and 6 kills respectively.