MANSFIELD, Massachusetts – The Northeast-10 Conference named its 2024 Women's Volleyball All-Conference selections and major award winners on Wednesday, November 20, and the American International College women's volleyball team was well-represented with a trio of major awards and seven All-Conference awards across six student-athletes.

Victoria Mendez earned Player of the Year and Aleksandra Lucic was named Rookie of the Year, while Matthew Cribbin was named the Sandy Hoffman Coach of the Year. Mendez and Lucic additionally earned First-Team All-Conference, and Lucic was also named to the All-Rookie Team. Perla Rosa garnered Second-Team All-Conference, and Alice Di Francesco and Carissa Michel were selected Third-Team All-Conference. Finally, Janelys Perez Cortes joined Lucic on the All-Rookie Team.

Mendez had a brilliant campaign in all aspects of play. She was third in the NE10 in conference play in kills per set with 3.40, and second in points per set with 4.09. She was the only player to accumulate triple-digit totals in both kills and assists in league play in the conference. Her ability to play effectively as a setter in the back row rotations while hitting and blocking from the front row made her a truly game-breaking player and helped to lead AIC to its first-ever undefeated-in-conference campaign.

Mendez is the fourth student-athlete in program history to win the award and her selection is the sixth for AIC, all coming in the last eight seasons that the award has been given, dating back to 2016. That year, Diva Rivas-Reyes won the award, followed by Jana Potic in 2018 and Andrea Serra Rosa in 2019, 2021, and 2022, with no award in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Lucic not only faced the challenge of elevating to the collegiate level of play as a first-year student-athlete, but also changed positionally from outside hitter to middle blocker due to injuries in AIC's lineup. She overcame those challenges brilliantly, finishing second in conference play in blocks per set at 1.06. While she consistently stopped the attacks of opponents, she was herself unstoppable when swinging, finishing fourth in the NE10 in attack percentage among qualifiers with a .382, making just nine attack errors but piling up 64 kills on 144 swings.

Lucic is the sixth AIC Rookie of the Year winner for the program and the first since Potic in 2016; previous winners also include Rebecca Wells in 1986, Robin Trumbower in 1999, Ellisha Terry in 2008, and Caitlin Connelly in 2010.

Cribbin garnered his third NE10 Sandy Hoffman Coach of the Year Award by leading the Yellow Jackets to their first-ever 10-0 NE10 campaign and their third NE10 Regular Season title in four seasons. He overcame the challenge of losing both of his returning AVCA All-Americans to injury before conference play started, and his reconfigured lineup helped lead to the emergence of both Mendez and Lucic as forces to be reckoned with.

He previously won the award in 2018 and 2022; AIC's only other selection came in 1995 when Peter Artibello earned the award.

Rosa continued her rise as one of the most talented liberos in the NE10, building on an All-Rookie and All-NE10 Tournament Team selection in 2022. She was fourth in the NE10 in digs per set in league play at 4.49, while also dishing 41 assists. She was AIC's most targeted player in serve receive, but her .955 reception percentage on 222 attempts set up the AIC offense for success.

Michel, who was a 2023 NE10 All-Rookie Team selection at Southern Connecticut State University, was a critical piece of the AIC offense. In 31 sets in NE10 play, she scored 67 kills, third-most on the team, and was also an effective blocker with 15 blocks in those matches.

Di Francesco earned her second All-Conference honor in as many years after taking Second-Team accolades in 2023. Despite playing fewer rotations given the rise of Mendez, she still finished ninth in the conference in assists per set in NE10 play at 5.46, leading AIC with 191 total; AIC hit .379 on her passes. She also racked up 79 digs, and led the NE10 in aces with 25 in the 10 conference matches.

Perez Cortes, playing in her first full season after missing much of 2023 with injury, played all but one set and gave AIC an effective hitting option up front. She was second only to Mendez in AIC's offense with 74 kills in 34 NE10 sets, and also collected 20 digs and 12 blocks.

The Yellow Jackets, as the top seed in the Northeast-10 Championship Tournament, will host the NE10 Semifinal and Championship rounds. AIC will face fourth-seeded Adelphi University at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 22, while second-seeded Bentley University faces the third-seeded University of New Haven immediately following that contest. The two winners will play on Saturday, November 23 for the NE10 title, with a 5:00 p.m. first serve.