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The college that is the birthplace of volleyball is now champions of the oldest college men’s volleyball non-conference tournament.
Springfield swept Lees-McRae 25-21, 25-15, 27-25 on Saturday in Springfield, Mass., to win the Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Classic championship for the first time in its program history.
Outside attacker Angel Perez had a match-high 14 kills and a .591 attack percentage in the victory. Perez also led the Pride (8-4) in their semifinals victory Friday and was named the Tournament MVP following the championship match.
The Pride had nine attack errors — 15 fewer attack errors than the Bobcats (4-4, 1-0 Conference Carolinas). Springfield out-hit Lees-McRae .329 to .100, including a match-best .424 in the final game of the sweep.
Springfield middle attacker Mike Pelletier had a match-high seven blocks. Middle attacker Greg Falcone also added six blocks as the Pride had 5.5 more blocks than the Bobcats.
Outside attacker Jose Ribas in the loss led Lees-McRae with nine kills. In addition, Lees-McRae libero Efrain Negron finished with a match-high 12 digs.
Springfield, which is the host school for this tournament, advanced to the championship match for fifth time in the 25-year history of the Morgan Classic after defeating UC Santa Cruz in the semifinals on Friday.
Lees-McRae defeated Cal Baptist in the other semifinals match on Friday. The Bobcats were the first team from the Conference Carolinas to participate in the Morgan Classic.
Cal Baptist swept UC Santa Cruz 26-24, 25-22, 25-20 in the third-place consolation match on Saturday.
Morgan Classic All-Tournament Team
Thomas Davidson, UC Santa Cruz
Kristopher Johnson, Cal Baptist
Jose Ribas, Lees-McRae
Randy Ramirez, Lees-McRae
Nick Ferry, Springfield College
Mike Pelletier, Springfield College
Angel Perez, Springfield College, MVP
Serving Contest Champion
Jory Jolander, UC Santa Cruz
Spike Contest Champion
Michael Cate, Cal Baptist
Off the Block Morgan Classic Twitter Challenge winner
@ccusumano