SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts – The American International College women's volleyball team held off Southern New Hampshire University, defeating the Penmen 22-25, 25-16, 25-22, 22-25, 15-9 on Saturday, November 12 to advance to the Northeast-10 Conference Championship Game.
AIC is now 28-2 on the season.
A back-and-forth first set was tied at 17-17 as both teams struggled to hit cleanly; the Penmen pulled ahead and hung on at the end, with Kam Blaskey notching a kill to end the set for the Penmen. A total of 18 points in the set came on errors as AIC hit just .095.
The second was messy as well, with 16 errors, although it went in AIC's favor. The Yellow Jackets had an early run of six out of seven points that included kills by Kristina Peric and Paola Soto Burgos, and the Penmen could not close the gap. Another six-of-seven run closed out the set, with Soto-Burgos notching three straight kills to finish it off and tie the match 1-1.
The teams traded runs in the third set, with an early four-point AIC lead evaporating, and the set remained tied all the way to 22-22. However, Soto Burgos broke the tie with a kill, and then after Peric put a ball down to the wood, Soto Burgos aced her serve to put AIC on the brink of the win.
The Penmen were down, but not out. With the set tied 15-15, they ran off four straight points, pushing ahead 19-15. AIC worked back to even at 22-22, but an Ana Pimenta kill gave the Penmen the edge, and two AIC errors ensured a fifth set.
Soto Burgos started AIC's fifth-set offense with two more kills, and the Penmen did themselves no favors with errors that allowed AIC to jump to a 5-2 lead. Peric added a pair of kills and two aces to add to the lead, and it was clear the Yellow Jackets were going to finish the job. Fittingly, it was Soto Burgos who put home the final kill to win the match.
She was the player of the match, putting away an astounding 29 kills and hitting .377. Peric collected 16 kills and 13 digs, while AIC's middle duo of Mai-Lani Hernandez and Amber Williams each had five kills. Naomi Eckert Rivera put up 53 assists and made 25 digs, while Perla Rosa notched 28 digs.
Prior to the start of the match, the NE10 presented Dora Butkovic with the Elite 24 Award. The award is given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the finals site of each of the NE10's Championships.
In the other semifinal matchup, Adelphi University dispatched Southern Connecticut State University in straight sets; AIC will host Adelphi in the Championship on Sunday, November 13 at 3:00 p.m.
