Men's Volleyball falls at Dominican, MIT

The American International College men's volleyball team dropped a 19-25, 22-25, 21-25 East Coast Conference matchup at Dominican University on Friday, April 5 before falling 23-25, 18-25, 17-25 at MIT the following day in nonconference play. 

AIC is now 2-17 overall and 1-4 in the ECC.

Against the Chargers, the opening set was tied early on when the hosts went on a run of seven out of eight points, but AIC countered with six out of seven. The battle was more back-and-forth from there, but the Chargers were able to string a few more rallies together to take the opening set on a Phinehas Wiley kill.

The teams again alternated points in the second through to 7-7, with Dominican then grabbing six of the next seven only for AIC to rally back to tie the set at 15-15. It remained close to 22-21, but the Chargers again finished stronger, and Ayden Shaw gave the home side the set-two win.

Dominican started the third strong, leading 7-2 and looking for the easy sweep. AIC pushed back yet again, tying the score at 12-12 and taking advantage of two Robert Santana aces to grab the lead. Even at 21-21, Dominican once again closed out, scoring the final four points to take the match.

At MIT the next day, the story was similar in the first set. The opener was tied 23-23, but the Engineers grabbed the final two points for the set win.

The second and third were not as close; multiple four-plus point runs in both sets allowed MIT to win the sets and take the match.

Santana totaled 23 kills on the weekend to lead the team; Michael Maldonado distributed 38 assists. 

AIC closes the 2024 regular season on Saturday, April 13 at Saint Thomas Aquinas College.