WEST HAVEN, Connecticut- The No. 6 American International College volleyball team and No. 5 Holy Family University met in the NCAA East Region title game on Saturday, November 17. The Yellow Jackets swept the Tigers as AIC won their second East Region Title in three years.
FAST FACTS:
Final score:No. 6 AIC 3, No. 5 Holy Family 0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-19)
Records:AIC improves to 23-11 overall; Holy Family moves to 31-6 overall.
Location:Charger Gym, University of New Haven West Haven, Connecticut
STAT LEADERS:
AIC:
Diva Rivas-Reyes: 12 kills
Andrea Serra: 10 kills, 11 digs
Jana Potic: six kills, 10 digs
Dolores Kopren: 32 assists
Evelyn Lopez: 16 digs
Holy Family:
Gianna Pesognelli: 12 kills
Carly Covington: 10 kills, six digs
Chase Wassel: nine kills, 14 digs
Morgan Silks: 32 assists
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- AIC led 8-7 in the first set when the Tigers went on a 4-0 to take a three-point lead, the largest of the set to that point. AIC answered with a 4-0 run to retake a 12-11 lead. Shortly after, trailing 16-15, AIC went on a 9-2 run to take the first set 25-19.
- Trailing 15-13 in the second, AIC went on a 7-1 run that extended past a Holy Family timeout. The Tigers tried to make a comeback, but the NE10 Player of the Year, junior outside hitter Jana Potic, ended the second set with a kill, with the score 25-22.
- In the third set, the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 10-4 lead before the Tigers made it a two-point game at 10-8. The Yellow Jackets continued to buzz past Holy Family as they took ta19-13 lead. After missing on two match points, Potic took the pass from NE10 Setter of the Year senior Dolores Kopren to seal the East Region title.
BUZZWORTHY:
- This marks the second East Region title in the past three seasons. The Yellow Jackets won the region back in 2016 before falling to the University of New Haven in the East Region Final last season. Prior to 2016, the program had never won an NCAA Tournament game.
- Kopren, Potic, sophomore outside hitter Andrea Serra, and senior libero Evelyn Lopez each received East Region All-Tournament Team accolades for their performance in the tournament.
- Kopren recently passed Stephanie O'Brien in career assists, placing her second in program history.Kopren currently has 4,185 assists in just three seasons.
- Rivas-Reyesis the fifth player in AIC program history to pass 1,000 career kills. With her performance against No. 2 Adelphi University on November 16, she passedEllisha Terryfor second place in program history in kills. She is now the rally scoring era program career leader with 1,303 kills since passingEllisha Terry, who had 1,286 kills from 2008-11.
- Poticrecorded her 1,000th career kill at Adelphi on September 29. Currently, Potic has 1,268 kills, which is good enough for fourthplace in program history. With her performance against The College of Saint Rose, she jumped Sarah Neaves, who had 1,148 kills, for fourth place. She now trails Terry four third place.
- Potic jumped ahead of Rivas-Reyes in total points in program history on October 2 at Franklin Pierce. Potic recently pasted Neaves in total points. She currently has 1,474.5, with Rivas-Reyes right behind her with 1,372.5 career points. Potic is now chasingEllisha Terry, who had 1,487.5 points from 2008-11. Should Potic pass Terry, she would hold the rally scoring era program record.
NEXT UP:
- The Yellow Jackets will find out their opponent in the Elite Eight on Sunday, November 17 when the NCAA reseeds the last eight teams.
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