Women's Volleyball opens NE10 play with sweep of Saint Rose

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College women's volleyball team defeated The College of Saint Rose 25-10, 25-9, 25-22 to open Northeast-10 Conference play on Saturday, September 23.

AIC is now 6-6 on the season and 1-0 in the NE10.

Early in the first, AIC led 7-4 when the Yellow Jackets started a run. Kristina Peric recorded four kills and a block in a nine-point stretch between Golden Knights scores, and Saint Rose never recovered. Paola Soto Burgos slammed the ball to the wood to finish the set for the Yellow Jackets.

AIC opened the second with six of the first seven points, and kept grabbing chunks as the Golden Knights struggled with the ball on both sides; Saint Rose committed eight attack errors in the set as AIC won it 25-9 to go ahead 2-0.

Saint Rose came out in the third in desperation mode and it worked briefly as the guests took a 6-2 lead, but AIC turned around to tie the set at 11-11. Shortly after, the Yellow Jackets went on a 5-0 run and put the set and match out of reach; the last run for the Golden Knights closed the gap to 23-22, but a Victoria Mendez kill and Alice Di Francesco ace put the contest away.

Peric led the match with 13 kills, while Aleksandra Ivanovic collected nine kills on 11 swings for an attack percentage of .818. Di Francesco dished 27 assists.

AIC returns to the court at Pace University on Tuesday, September 26 at 7:00 p.m.