GARDEN CITY, N.Y. The sixth seeded American International College volleyball team rallied from a two set hole, but fell in a marathon fifth set to the seventh seeded University of New Haven in Northeast-10 Championship semifinal action Friday night at the Center for Recreation at Adelphi University.
With the loss AIC concludes the season 14-13 overall, while the Chargers (18-14) advance to the NE-10 Championship Saturday against host Adelphi.
American International rebounded from an 0-2 hole, having fallen in the first two sets, 23-25, 18-25, with third and fourth set wins by scores of 25-14 and 25-21, before New Haven outlasted AIC in the fifth, 19-21. The five-set loss was only the second of the season for the Jackets who finished 4-2 in marathon matches.
In what proved to truly be a back-and-forth affair, the Yellow Jackets and Chargers put it all on the line for a chance to move on in the NE-10 Championship. AIC senior Natalija Dordevic (Belgrade, Serbia) put AIC in match point territory with a kill, 15-14, but New Haven always had an answer. The Jackets, in all, had three shots to seal the match, but the Chargers found a way to run three straight points and advance to face top-seeded Adelphi.
After the score was knotted at 15-15 in the first set, the teams went on to tie the score on four more occasions. A Charger attack was blocked by Dodrdevic, sophomore Mercy Rivera (Canovanas, P.R.) and junior Caitlin Sobolewski (Guilford, Conn.) to knot it at 23 apiece, but New Haven used a kill and service ace to claim the opening set, 25-23.
In the second, the Chargers led from the opening serve, until American International strung together a 5-1 run using all six Jackets on the court to knot the score at 15 all.
New Haven went to work late in the second, finishing the set on a 10-3 run. Rivera registered AIC's only two kills in the latter stages to go along with a New Haven service error.
In the do-or-die third set, Sobolewski served up six straight points to give her team a 24-14 advantage. The junior middle hitter served up three aces, while Dordevic finished the run with two kills to keep AIC's hopes alive.
AIC's resident serving, freshman setter Roxana Wenger (Giph-Oberfrick, Switzerland) got things rolling in the fourth, serving up six straight points to help the Jackets gain a 15-9 advantage. Prior to the run, AIC Head Coach Matt Cribbin used a timeout to rally the team and it seemingly worked as Wenger and the went to work.
In the closing points of the set Pires and freshman Diva Rivas-Reyes (Tucson, Ariz.) tallied two kills apiece to help seal the clinching fifth set. In their first meeting, Rivas was dialed in, tallying a career-high with 30 kills.
Wenger notched a new career-high in assists with 57, her previous high mark of 56 came in a five-set win of Saint Michael's. Dordevic ended with 23 kills, while Rivas returned with 13 kills. Rivera, moving from libero to hitter, finished with 12 kills and a team0high 18 digs. Senior Franny Sanchez, playing in her final collegiate match, tallied 18 kills at libero.
