SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The historic Butova Gym played host to the first round of the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship on Thursday, December 2. The American International College women's volleyball program played its first home NCAA match against Southern Connecticut State University and swept the Owls.

FAST FACTS:
Final Score: AIC 3, SCSU 0
Set Scores: 25-20, 25-19, 25-18
Records: The Yellow Jackets rise to 28-6 on the season, while the Owls fall to 23-11
Location: Henry A. Butova Gymnasium, Springfield, Massachusetts

KEY STATS:
AIC:
Paola Soto-Burgos: 14 kills, .500 hitting percentage
Andrea Serra-Rosa: 11 kills, eights digs
Amanda Rodriguez: 14 digs
Naomi Eckert-Rivera: 36 assists, seven digs

SCSU:
Gabriela Vazquez: 11 kills, nine digs
Erika Benson: seven kills
Taylor Jones: 27 assists


HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Yellow Jackets were mentally prepared for the first set as junior Ada Guilera Martinez had a pair of kills followed by a block to put the Yellow Jackets up early 3-1. Rookie Paola Soto-Burgos added her first kill of the night to make it a three-point lead.
• Trailing 12-11, the Yellow Jackets started to put some distance between themselves and the Owls. Guilera Martinez started the attack with a kill. Graduate Andrea Serra-Rosa served a beautiful shot before Soto-Burgos added to her kill total.
• Leading 19-18, AIC ended the set on a 6-2 run as Serra-Rosa put the nail in the first set coffin to give AIC the 1-0 lead.
• Trailing 5-4 in the second set, the Yellow Jackets forced an attack error by the Owls to start a 5-1 run that included a pair of aces from Guilera Martinez and a kill by Soto-Burgos.
• While leading 18-16, the Yellow Jackets kept the foot on the gas. It started with a pair of errors by the Owls.Guilera Martinez and Serra-Rosa stuffed an attack and Serra-Rosa added a notch to her kill total to make it 23-16.
• SCSU made a late push to get to 19 but an Owl service error and kill by Soto-Burgos gave the Yellow Jackets the 2-0 lead as they took the second set 25-19.
• AIC had their sights on the third set and did not get complacent as they started the third frame with a 5-1 lead. Southern came back and tied the set at seven before going up 9-7.
• The Yellow Jackets answered with a run of their own. The 7-1 run saw Soto-Burgos start the stretchwith back-to-back kills. Sophomore Mai-Lani Hernandez had a kill of her own to give AIC the lead. The Owls tied it at 10 before AIC took the next four points to finish the run.
• Up 17-13, AIC kept chugging along as they had a 6-1 run before SCSU came back and brought it within five. It was only fitting that Soto-Burgos ended the match with back-to-back kills to earn the match high of 14 kills and give AIC the sweep.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME:

• The Yellow Jackets hosted the NCAA East Regional for the first time in program history.
• The Yellow Jackets have won their last 10 matches in Butova.

WE'RE GOING STREAKING:

• AIC has now won 21 matches in a row.
• The team has not lost a single match in October or November.
• In that stretch, AIC has won 63 out of 71 sets, a winning percentage of .887.

QUOTABLE:


NEXT UP:

• The Yellow Jackets will play Holy Family University, who upended the University of New Haven by coming back from down 2-0 to win 3-2, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, December 3; the early match will feature Stonehill College and Daemen College at 5:00 p.m.