FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida The American International College volleyball team opened the 2017 season with a pair of losses at the NSU Shark Invitational on Saturday, September 1.

FAST FACTS:
FINAL SCORE:Tusculum 3, AIC 0 (20-25, 19-25, 23-25)
RECORDS: Tusculum starts off 1-0, AIC falls to 0-1.
FINAL SCORE: Lenoir-Rhyne 3, AIC 2 (17-25, 21-25, 25-22, 27-25, 15-17)
RECORDS: Lenoir-Rhyne improves to 1-1, AIC falls to 0-2.
LOCATION:Fort Lauderdale, Florida

STAT LEADERS:
Game 1
AIC:
Diva Rivas-Reyes: 12 kills
Jana Potic: 11 kills
Mercy Rivera 15 digs, three assists, one ace
Dolores Kopren: 28 assists

Tusculum:
Mariah Lewis: 10 kills, five block assists
Cassie Born: Eight kills, eight digs
Sabrina Schleuger: Eight kills, eight digs
Shannon Murphy: 33 assists

Game 2
AIC:
Diva Rivas-Reyes: 23 kills
Jana Potic: 17 kills, 14 digs
Ada Guilera Martinez: 11 kills, five digs
Mercy Rivera 17 digs
Dolores Kopren: 60 assists, 15 digs
Evelyn Lopez: 21 digs

Lenoir-Rhyne
Taylor Prall: 18 kills, 13 digs
Brooke Redmond: 16 kills, 16 digs
Bailey Cloninger 32 assists, 11 digs
Anna Smith: 20 assists


HOW IT HAPPENED:
GAME ONE:

• Tusculum went on a 3-0 and 7-0 run to start the first and second sets, respectively, and AIC never led in either of the first two sets.
• In the first set, AIC made multiple runs - first tying it at 3-3, and then later tying it at 8-8. From that point, the closest they would get was a score of 22-20, after a 6-0 run, but Tusculum secured the next three points to win the set.
• In the second set, the Yellow Jackets fell behind early by a score of 12-2, with their only points in that span coming on a pair of service errors. They jumped back to score the next four points, but traded points with Tusculum the rest of the way out and were unable to take the lead, falling 25-19.
• AIC took its first lead of the day off a kill from Diva Rivas-Reyes to earn the first point of the third set. The Yellow Jackets jumped out to an 11-4 lead before Tusculum went on a 7-2 run to come within 13-11.
• The Yellow Jackets had a 19-14 lead, but the match ended with an 11-4 run from Tusculum to beat AIC in three sets.

GAME TWO:

• Lenoir-Rhyne started the match out on a 5-0 run in the first set, but the Yellow Jackets battled back to come within 10-9. Lenoir-Rhyne had the next five points, and jumped out to a 19-11 lead and then a 22-13 advantage, eventually taking the set by a score of 25-17.
• In the second set, AIC had a 3-1 advantage in points, and traded the lead for most of the set. However, with the set tied 19-19, an AIC service error led to a 5-0 run from Lenoir-Rhyne, and AIC dropped the set, 25-21.
• En route to their first set win of the day, AIC started with a 3-0 lead, including a service ace from Dolores Kopren. Ada Guilera Martinez then had a service ace to give AIC a 12-5 lead. Lenoir-Rhyne was able to battle back within 24-22, but a Jana Potic kill ended things to give AIC a 25-22 win.
• The fourth set started off with a 4-0 AIC lead, and AIC ended the fourth set on a 10-2 run after falling behind Lenoir-Rhyne by a score of 24-17. Leading 25-24, Lenoir-Rhyne made it 25-25 but AIC got the next two points to take a 27-25 win and tie the game.
• AIC had a 6-3 lead in the fifth set, and in a back-and-forth affair the teams tied it at 15-15. However, Lenoir-Rhyne took the final two points to take the victory.

GAME NOTES:

• For the first time since 2011, the Yellow Jackets dropped their first two games.
• Kopren's 60 assists is the most in a single match in the NCAA so far this season.
• Riva-Reyes had 35 kills in her first two matches. Last season in the first two matches, she only had 21 kills.
• In the first two games, the teams hit .245 against AIC, while AIC only hit .147. The teams also blocked AIC almost twice as much as AIC blocked its opponents.

NEXT UP:

• The Yellow Jackets will face off against Minnesota-Duluth and Post on Saturday, September 2 in the final day of the NSU Shark Invite. The games are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

STAY CONNECTED:

• For more updates about the AIC volleyball team, follow @AICvb on Twitter and like AIC Volleyball on Facebook. For updates on all AIC Yellow Jackets teams, follow @AICAthletics on Twitter and Instagram, and like AIC Yellow Jackets on Facebook.