SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College women's volleyball team won an intense 25-23, 25-22, 25-15 match against Molloy University in the NCAA Division II East Region Quarterfinal at Henry Butova Gymnasium on Thursday, November 17.

AIC reaches 30-2 with the victory.

The first set was back and forth, with Molloy taking an early lead, AIC rallying back, Molloy pushing ahead again, and AIC again responding. The Lions had the largest lead in the set at 12-9, but the Yellow Jackets responded with four straight points with two kills by Andrea Serra Rosa and one by Kristina Peric included. Even all the way to 23-23, Serra Rosa put a ball to the wood before an error by the Lions gave the Yellow Jackets the set. 

Molloy jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second as Chye Davis and Kaitlin Jordan landed kills to start strong, but AIC bounced back to take a 9-6 lead after a Mai-Lani Hernandez block and then kill. The back-and-forth continued all the way to 18-18 when AIC jumped ahead on back-to-back Serra Rosa kills. Ultimately, AIC finished the job off as Williams and Paola Soto Burgos blocked a Lion attack on the penultimate point of the set before Serra Rosa hit a shot to end it. 

The third set looked like it would be more of the same as in the early sttages it was 10-10 with Davis and Serra Rosa trading kills. However, AIC took 10 of the next 11 points as Soto Burgos landed four kills during the run and added a block with Hernandez as well. That lead proved insurmountable, and AIC earned match point on a blocking error after a Hernandez shot to advance.

Notably, after hitting .098 in the first set, AIC hit .388 in the final two sets, including .500 in the third. Peric and Serra Rosa led AIC with 12 kills each, with Peric also notching a dozen digs. Soto Burgos had eight kills and six blocks, Williams added four kills and seven blocks, and Naomi Ecker Rivera picked up 35 assists and nine digs. 

AIC will now rematch the Northeast-10 Conference Championship Game with Adelphi University, which won a hard-fought five-set match against Thomas Jefferson University in the nightcap. On the other half of the bracket, Saint Anselm College swept Daemen University in straight sets, while Southern New Hampshire University rebounded from dropping the first set to take down Bentley University 3-1. The Hawks and Penmen face off at 5:00 p.m., and the Yellow Jackets take on the Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, November 18.