SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts – The American International College women's volleyball team served its way into the Northeast-10 Conference Championship Game, defeating Adelphi University 25-12, 22-25, 25-16, 25-13 in the NE10 Semifinal on Friday, November 22.

AIC is now 18-6 overall.

The Yellow Jackets opened the match on a 3-0 run with a service error, an Alice Di Francesco ace, and an Aleksandra Lucic kill. It took AIC less than 15 total points to force an Adelphi timeout, but the Yellow Jackets had all the momentum and built to a double-digit lead with strong defense. Victoria Mendez joined Lucic on a combo block and then shortly after landed a kill to extend the advantage to 21-8, and helped close the set with a kill and an ace. 

Adelphi made adjustments and roared out to a 5-1 lead in the second, and much like the Yellow Jackets in the first, added to it; three straight Kalena Ricketts kills and four points overall forced an AIC timeout with the score 16-7 for the Panthers. AIC rebounded after the timeout, pulling within one thanks to strong blocking, but could not tie the set and ultimately the Panthers tied the match 1-1.

Mendez started AIC off with two kills in the third before a Di Francesco ace put the Yellow Jackets up 3-0. Adelphi picked up from there, but AIC always kept them behind, and with the score 14-12, went on an eight-point run. The Panthers burned both timeouts in the stretch but had no answers as the AIC attack came from everywhere; Victoria Soto Burgos, Carissa Michel, and Janelys Perez Cortes all recorded kills and Mendez scored two aces as well as three assists in the stretch. Daniella Russo-Lolas aced the final two serves of the set to ice it.

An 8-0 run to start the fourth put AIC in view of the win, and the Yellow Jackets made sure the Panthers could not overcome the deficit. A steady stream of kills by Mendez and Michel, along with multiple blocks by Perez Cortes and Gabryela Castro de Jesus, put AIC on the brink of the win, and Michel's cross-court shot off of an Adelphi defender sealed the win.

AIC hit .312 in the contest, led by Michel and Mendez, who both had 15 kills. That duo combined to hit .500 on 52 swings. Lucic made nine blocks, and Di Francesco dished 24 assists with nine digs, while Mendez passed out 18 helpers, garnered eight digs, and made five blocks. Soto Burgos landed five kills and blocked five Adelphi attacks.

Prior to the match, the conference gave out the Elite 24 Award. The award goes to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the championship site of each of the NE10's 24 sports. Claudia Flores Marrero, with a 3.96 GPA as a human biology major, was the winner for 2024. She was the second AIC women's volleyball player to win the award, joining Dora Butkovic in 2022.

Bentley University defeated the University of New Haven 3-1 in the other NE10 Semifinal. The Falcons and Yellow Jackets will face off at the Butova Gymnasium for the NE10 title on Saturday, November 23 at 5:00 p.m.