WORCESTER -- Natalie Billet (Commack, NY) hit at a .481 clip as the Springfield volleyball defeated host WPI 3-0 in the fourth annual Greg Poole Match between the two NEWMAC foes inside Harrington Auditorium on Tuesday evening.  The visiting Pride swept the contest by set scores of 25-20, 25-12, 25-15 to even the series at 2-2 in the Greg Poole Match era.
 
Springfield, ranked #44 in the most recent NCAA Division III NPI, moves to 18-6 on the season and 7-2 in conference play and enters the final two league playdates tied with Smith or Babson for third atop the NEWMAC.  WPI dips to 6-17 overall and 0-9 against league foes.
 
The Engineers used kills by Fiona Gillis (Manchester, NH) and Audrey Stroupe (Leesburg, VA) and a service ace from Preslie Jerebker (Denver, CO) to jump out to a 5-2 advantage, but the hosts had no answers for Billet in the early going.  The senior belted eight kills without an error in 13 tries in the opening frame and the Pride broke away from a 9-9 deadlock with a 11-5 spurt to seize control of the set. 
 
The Pride never trailed in the second set while hitting an eye-popping .423 (13 kills, 2 errors, 26 attempts) in the middle stanza.  Billet and Riley Donahue (South Windsor, CT) both posted four kills and the guests registered an impressive 84% (11-of-13) side-out percentage. 
 
Springfield looked poised to runway with third and final set, fueled by a pair of Donahue kills in a 5-0 run to jump out to a 8-3 advantage but the Crimson and Gray clawed back to within 14-13 following a nice service run by Emilia Krum (Saratoga Springs, NY).  The Pride called a timeout and scored 11 of the match's final 13 points with Billet and Donahue teaming up for five kills in the match-ending spurt.
 
Billet finished with 15 kills and a pair of errors in 27 tries while Donahue hit .360 with 12 kills and three errors on 25 tries.  The pair was joined in double-double kills by Maeve Voltz (Bay Shore, NY) who totaled 10.  As a team, the Pride hit .333 with Megan Kirtyan (Massapequa Park, NY) handing out a match-best 31 assists and Billet posting a team-high nine digs.  Jerebker and Lily Eldridge (Danvers, MA) combined to dole out 20 assists with 12 and eight respectively.  Victoria Escuer (Caracas, Venezuela) shared game-high honors with nine digs.
 
WPI's Anastasia Kelnik (Fair Lawn, NJ) hit over .400 for the third time this season, amassing nine kills and just one error on 18 tries on her way to hitting .444 for the night. 
 
WPI steps out of conference for the final time on Saturday, hosting Mass Maritime on Senior Day at 1pm.  Springfield if off until a week from tonight, Tuesday, November 5th when they host Salve Regina at 7pm.