WALTHAM, Massachusetts - It was the heavyweight tilt everyone wanted, and the battle went the distance, but the American International College women's volleyball team fell 25-20, 23-25, 12-25, 25-21, 11-15 to Bentley University in the NCAA Division II East Region Championship match on Saturday, December 7.

AIC ends the season at 21-7.

The back-and-forth from both sides was evident early on, leading to the squads being tied 9-9 when the Yellow Jackets went on the first big run of the match, scoring 10 of the next 11 points thanks in large part to three aces by Alice Di Francesco and a kill and block each from Alexandra Lucic and Carissa Michel. However, the Falcons did not flinch, and went on a streak of their own to pull within 21-19. The Yellow Jackets shook it off, with a kill, ace, and block to draw to set point, and Gabryela Castro de Jesus fired a shot down to the floor to finish the set. 

In the second, the script was identical but mirrored, with the Falcons pulling ahead 17-11 before AIC powered up on a six-of-seven run that featured three Castro de Jesus kills. The Falcons rebounded to draw match point at 24-20, only to have to sweat out three straight Lucic kills before finally finishing the job to tie the match 1-1.

AIC jumped out to an early 6-3 lead in the third, but the Falcons took over from there, taking advantage of miscues and building to a 16-12 advantage. The Yellow Jackets did not score again from there, as the Falcons roared through nine straight points, with Caitlin Wunder delivering the set point kill.

Up against the ropes, the Yellow Jackets jumped to a 4-1 lead following a Lucic block, and while Bentley closed the gap somewhat at times, AIC was able to use small runs to expand the advantage to 16-8, with Victoria Mendez putting down three kills and a block during the run. However, the hosts fired back, scoring nine out of 10 to tie the set at 17-17. Crucially, Michel and Mendez posted back-to-back kills to prevent the Falcons from getting in front, and AIC was able to hold off the home side from there, with Jelena Milovanovic ending the set with a kill to force a fifth.

AIC started off the fifth with a block, and both teams went on runs to leave the set tied 4-4; Milovanovic and Lucic combined on back-to-back blocks in that stretch. However, the Yellow Jackets never led again in the set, and Sophia Poehlein came up with three kills out of the final five Bentley scores, including match point, to hand the Falcons the regional crown.

Michel led AIC with 13 kills, while Lucic had seven along with seven blocks. Mendez was brilliant, with 12 kills, 17 digs, and 16 aces for the only triple-double by any player in any of the eight NCAA Division II regional round matches and the first NCAA Tournament triple-double by any student-athlete in the NE10 since Kristine Rios of the University of New Haven did so in the 2018 edition of the tournament.