THE BASICS:
 
- Score: No. 3 Springfield - 3, MIT - 0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-16)
 
- Records: MIT (6-3), Springfield (9-1)
 
- Location: Springfield, Mass. (Blake Arena)
 
- The Lead: Competing in the 35th annual International Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Classic, the MIT men's volleyball fell to hosts and third-ranked Springfield, 3-0, on Friday night.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- Set 1: Junior Phillip Johnson (Chandler, Ariz.) stopped a 3-0 Pride run with a kill and gave the Engineers some momentum to pull to within 13-6 on a kill from senior Nick Gustafson (San Diego, Calif.). The hosts pulled away, getting their lead up to 12 before the Engineers cut the deficit to single digits on a Gustafson kill that made it 20-11, however, MIT could not get any closer as Springfield took the opening set 25-12.
 
- Set 2: MIT took a 5-2 lead off back-to-back errors from the Pride, but after a Springfield timeout, the home team rattled off the next three points to pull even. From there the teams stayed close with neither being able to pull ahead by more than two points. The Pride used a 4-0 run to go up 16-12 and pulled away from MIT to win the second set 25-14.
 
- Set 3: With the match tied at three, Springfield used a 4-0 run to take a 7-3 advantage before a kill from sophomore Grant Oh (Irvine, Calif.) stopped the Pride run. The hosts built a 17-10 lead before MIT got three of the next four points to get to within 18-13. Senior Troy Oliveira (San Diego, Calif.) got MIT to within five, but Springfield went on a 6-2 run to win the match.
  
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
- Oh led MIT with seven kills followed by Gustafson with six and Johnson with five.
 
- Junior Max Turner (Chandler, Ariz.) led the team with 17 assists.
 
- First-year Kevin Windisch (Placentia, Calif.) had six digs in the match while Oliveira and Gustafson each had three.
 
- Jarrett Anderson led Springfield in kills (14), aces (3) and digs (10).
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT will return to the court tomorrow, Saturday February 11th for the consolation match. The Engineers will play the loser of the NYU vs. Rutgers-Newark match at 6 p.m.   

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