SPRINGFIELD, Mass. The American International College volleyball team fell for the first time in six matches Friday at the hands of Pace University in a Northeast-10, three-set loss at Butova Gymnasium.

With the loss AIC falls to 13-10 overall and 7-5 in NE-10 matches, while with the win Pace improves to 13-16 and 5-5 in conference play.

AIC fell in straight sets for the first time since getting swept by Le Moyne back on Sep. 29 in Springfield. AIC dropped set scores of 20-25, 16-25 and 22-25.

The Setters used a run of 9-of-10 points late in the first set to pull away, 24-16. The Jackets did not go away quietly, though, rattling off five straight points served up by junior middle blocker Lauren Pires (Dartmouth, Mass.), but a kill by Pace's Amy Vicic sealed the first set win, 25-21.

The Yellow Jackets opened the second in typical freshman Roxana Wenger (Giph-Oberfrick, Switzerland) fashion, scoring the first four points with an ace and kills by junior's Natalija Dordevic (Belgrade, Serbia) and Caitlin Sobolewski (Guilford, Conn.).

Pace regained composure and battled AIC until they hit the ground running with a 10-0 to gap the home squad, 24-14 and cruise to the set win.

In the third set, AIC sophomore Annie Boele (Clovis, Calif.) and freshman Diva Rivas-Reyes (Tucson, Ariz.) added late kills, but it was not enough as Pace controlled the match and used Vicic to end the game for the Setters third match sweep in-a-row.

Boele led all Jackets with nine kills, while Pace's Kathleen Benson also tallied nine kills. Wenger recorded a match-high 26 assists and sophomore Mercy Rivera (Canovanas, P.R.) made 17 digs. Sobolewski registered five kills and hit a team high .400.

It is a quick turn- around for AIC as they travel to Southern New Hampshire for a 1 p.m. match tomorrow, Nov. 7 with the Penmen.