SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts – The American International College women's volleyball team gutted out a 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 15-25, 15-11 win over Bentley University in Northeast-10 Conference play on Tuesday, October 29.

AIC improves to 11-6 overall with a 6-0 NE10 mark. 

Bentley jumped to an early 7-3 lead with a five-point run that included two Caitlin Wunder kills, but the Yellow Jackets were able to chip away, and a four-point run that included a Victoria Mendez block and a kill flipped AIC to an 18-17 lead. Even at 23-23 shortly after, Janelys Perez Cortes and Victoria Soto Burgos landed hits to the wood to put AIC up 1-0.

The second started well for AIC, including two early Aleksandra Lucic aces, but quickly turned into a back-and-forth affair. With AIC up 18-16, the Falcons took flight, scoring seven straight in a run capped by a block and two kills off the hand of Sophia Poehlein. AIC rebounded to snag the next four points and close within one, but could not tie the set and dropped the 25-23 result. 

The back-and-forth continued into the third, and while AIC was never able to pull away, the Yellow Jackets never trailed after a four-point run put them up 7-4. The final two AIC points of the set came on service errors, helping AIC win a set they hit only .154 in as a team.

 Up against it as they had been the first time the two teams met, the Falcons showed no signs of worry about a 2-1 deficit. They took advantage of every mistake as AIC totaled 14 errors in the set, and Rachel Vitko slammed down the last two balls of the set for a 25-15 win, forcing the teams to a decisive fifth set for the second meeting in a row. 

The Yellow Jackets had an unhappy ending to the story in the first meeting between the teams, having given back a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2. They had no intent of allowing it to happen a second time, and Mendez led the early charge with a kill and a block. Mendez added two more points as well to give AIC an early 5-2 edge, with the third point of the early run coming in stunning fashion as a Bentley kill was reversed due to a rotation violation. Mendez was not done either, firing in an ace shortly after, and Chelsea Foulis, in the match for the first time, landed a kill immediately after, allowing AIC to switch sides with an 8-3 lead.

The Falcons pulled within three at 11-8, but Foulis and Soto Burgos put up perhaps the most emphatic block of the night, and Alice Di Francesco followed it with an ace to put AIC on the brink of a win. Ultimately, the final hit of the night came off the hand of Perez Cortes, beating the Bentley defense on match point to seal the victory. 

Perla Rosa put in strong work defensively with a match-best 24 digs, while Mendez scored 15 kills, 18 assists, and 18 digs; Di Francesco dished 28 assists and made 11 digs. Lucic totaled nine kills and five blocks, while Jelena Milovanovic posted 10 kills.

The win ensures AIC of no worse than eighth place in the NE10, clinching a playoff berth in the Northeast-10 Championship Tournament for the ninth consecutive season in which the Tournament has been held. Under Director of Volleyball Matthew Cribbin, the team has made 11 of 12 possible appearances in the postseason. 

The Yellow Jackets will look to continue their run to the top seed in the NE10 with a Friday, November 1 match at Saint Anselm College. First serve is set for 6:00 p.m.