Friday, March 8, 2013 (Springfield, Massachusetts) - In the opening round of the Springfield College men's volleyball tournament, Mount Ida College was downed by the hosting Pride in a 3-0 blanking by scores of 25-12, 25-16 and 25-11 at Blake Arena.

The Mustangs fall to an overall record of 4-13 while the hosting Pride has now won its last 10 matches to improve to 16-3.

Mount Ida finished the evening hitting -.062 as its offense struggled to find a rhythm from the opening whistle. Justin Rhoden (Corona, CA/Corona Centennial) had a strong showing in the middle, posting seven kills on 10 attempts to go along with two blocks. Brady Rodriguez (Longwood, FL/Bishop Moore) handed out 19 assists, and James Ames (West Hartford, CT/Conard) added seven kills of his own.

Mike Freytag paced the Pride with four kills on five swings, while adding three blocks, three digs, and two aces. Evan Acanfora tallied a team-best seven digs and four digs, and Brendan McGourn came off the bench to produce six kills at a .750 clip. As a team, Springfield hit .404, with Eric Johnson handing out 25 assists to go along with four aces and two blocks.

The Pride raced out to a 12-4 advantage in the first set as it cruised to the victory. Eric Brawn led the Pride in the set with three kills and a pair of service aces.

The second set was closer as it featured four ties and three lead changes. After the Mustangs evened things at four-all, Springfield rattled off the next four points, capped off by a big swing from Jason Mascoe to seize control at 8-4. Mount Ida was as close at 13-9 following another Ames kill, but the Pride scored 12 of the final 19 points en route to a 25-16 win.

Springfield, which entered the match with the nation's best team hitting percentage, had its finest offensive showing in the third, hitting .534. The Pride jumped out a 9-2 lead and never looked back, using four kills from McGourn and three kills from Ryan Quesenberry to fuel the three-game victory.