SPRINGFIELD, Mass. The American International College volleyball team dropped a four-setter to Northeast-10 foe Bentley Saturday evening at Butova Gymnasium.
With the loss AIC falls to 13-12 overall and 7-7 in NE-10 play, while with the win Bentley improves to 18-9 and 11-3 in conference matches.
Prior to the match AIC senior's Bailey Swan (Belvidere, Ill.) and Franny Sanchez (Ossining, N.Y.) were honored for their accomplishments on and off the court. Out with an injury, Swan was put in the starting lineup for the last time at home and ceremoniously subbed out before the first serve.
After dropping the first two sets; 21-25 and 20-25, the Yellow Jackets extended the match in the third set by winning, 25-22, but the Falcons took care of business in the fourth and final frame, 19-25.
What started as a back-and-forth third set turned AIC's way midway through. Down two, outside hitter Mercy Rivera (Canovanas, P.R.) started a five-point string with a kill from freshman setter Roxana Wenger (Giph-Oberfrick, Switzerland). Rivera added two service aces, while junior middle blocker Lauren Pires (Dartmouth, Mass.) and sophomore outside Ayana Knowles (Chino, Calif.) added kills to take a 19-16 lead.
Knowles was the spark AIC needed in the third set, coming off the sidelines to record six late kills. Rivera ended the frame with a kill to force another set.
In the fourth, American International jumped out to a 7-3, but the Falcons clawed back to knot it at eight apiece. Pires broke the tie, but Bentley rattled off six straight to put AIC in a 14-9 hole.
Facing match point, Knowles blasted a kill to keep the Jackets alive, but the next point went Bentley's way with a Jaci Buscher kill and AIC fell in four.
In her first match at outside of the season, the hard-hitting Rivera led the team with 16 kills. Junior outside Natalija Dordevic (Belgrade, Serbia) tallied 15 kills while hitting .257. Dordevic finished the season atop the NE-10 in kills-per-set with 3.96, second in total kills with 380.
Rivera and senior libero Sanchez each made 19 digs, while sophomore outside Annie Boele (Clovis, Calif.) and classmate Cherry Baylon (Costa Mesa, Calif.) registered 13 and 11 digs respectively. Wenger recorded 45 assists in the losing effort.
Buscher led the Falcons with 14 kills, while Jessica Segal led the match with 25 digs.
AIC and Bentley will meet again this Tuesday, Nov. 17 in Waltham, Mass. for the first round of the Northeast-10 Championship. AIC claimed the sixth seed, while Bentley earned the league's third spot. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.
