Springfield, MA| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's volleyball team split a non-conference tri-match on Saturday afternoon, earning a 3-0 sweep of The Sage Colleges before dropping a 3-1 decision to the reigning national champion #1 Springfield College.

With the split, the Golden Eagles move to 6-2 overall on the year. A pair of losses sent the Gators to 5-5 as the Pride improve to 10-1.

SJC 3, Sage 0

The Golden Eagles opened the match with a 25-15 victory in the first set before going up 2-0 with a 25-17 win in the second. Junior Will Flohr's kill capped off the third set (25-19) and clinched the sweep for SJC.

SJC's offense produced 44 kills at a 46.7% efficiency rate. Junior Matthew Amberge hit .668 and put down a game-high 12 kills. Junior Paul Curaro also hit in double-digits and produced 11 kills and added two service aces.

Junior Kyle Biggers hit .545 and put down eight kills, while senior Tyler Jones dished out a game-high 41 assists. Senior Danny McNamara and Flohr were each credited with seven digs apiece.

Springfield 3, SJC 1

After taking a 25-17 defeat in the first set, SJC erased a two-point deficit (11-9) midway through the second set, surging to a 25-22 win to become just the second NCAA Division III school to take a set off the nation's top ranked team this season.

But the Pride responded in the third with a 25-21 win and later knocked off the Golden Eagles with a 25-18 match-winning fourth-set victory.

Curaro and Amberge again led the way for SJC with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Curaro also scooped up five digs and Amberge had a hand in five blocks.

Biggers hit .357 and put down six kills while Jones was credited with 32 assists. McNamara's 12 digs were a game-high.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Wednesday, February 13 when they host Misericordia University at 7:00 pm.