WALTHAM, Massachusetts – The American International College women's volleyball team swept the opening day of the Sandy Hoffman Memorial Invitational at Bentley University on Friday, August 26, winning 3-0 against Holy Family University and Valdosta State University to kick off the 2022 season.
The Yellow Jackets begin the season 2-0; dating back to the 2021 campaign, the team has won 19 consecutive regular season matches.
AIC did not get off to a strong start, falling behind 7-2 to the Lions in the opening set. Though they overcame that deficit, the Yellow Jackets could not open a significant lead; the match remained tied all the way to 21-21. A service error put AIC on top, and then a kill and block by Aleksandra Ivanovic pushed AIC to set point; though the Lions scored once more, their subsequent serve went into the net to give AIC a 1-0 lead.
Midway through the second set, AIC began to roll. The Yellow Jackets scored 12 out of 14 points, turning a 12-10 lead into a 24-12 advantage, with the scoring coming from everywhere, including a pair of kills by Kristina Peric and three aces, two of which were off the hand of Andrea Serra Rosa. Ivanovic ultimately put down the final point as AIC took the second set 25-15.
AIC steamed out to a 7-2 lead and kept building to a 23-13 advantage, seemingly putting the match out of reach. Ivanovic contributed three kills and two aces in that span. However, the Lions had one last roar in them, scoring nine times in a row to cut AIC's edge to one and forcing Head Coach Matt Cribbin to take a timeout. The reset worked, as Serra Rosa pounded a kill to the hardwood and then Ivanovic slammed down the final point, crushing an overpass to end the set 25-22 and the match 3-0.
Against the Blazers, the early going was back-and-forth to 10-10 before AIC began to push ahead on a kill by Naomi Eckert Rivera, and AIC outscored Valdosta State 14-8 the rest of the way to claim the first set 25-17.
The second set was similarly tight early on. Tied 6-6, the Blazers went on a 6-0 run, only to have AIC turn around and put seven straight on the board; both teams scored four points off of errors during their runs. The set was still tied at 23-23, and while Ivanovic gave AIC set point with a blast, the Blazers scored the next two to turn it around. However, Serra Rosa re-tied the set at 25-25, and Ivanovic took over again, blocking Valdosta State's next attack before drilling another overpass to the floor to win the set 27-25.
The Blazers came on strong in the third set and pushed out to a 21-16 lead. The match seemed destined for a fourth, but Serra Rosa and Ivanovic had other ideas; the former scored three kills and the latter notched a pair of aces as AIC tied the set up at 21-21 and led 24-22. The Blazers scored once more, but the next serve was into the net, which finished the set 25-23 for AIC and gave the team the 3-0 sweep again.
"The first day of the tournament was very successful. I am so proud with the team's performance and I think this is a great way to open the season. In the moments when we played a little 'weaker' and sloppy, we overcame our weaknesses and covered each other. Also, the energy from the team was on a great level and we supported each other during both games. Overall, I think there were great things throughout the day, but also the mistakes that we made, we need to learn from, and apply it to our future games to keep growing as a team," Ivanovic said after the matches.
"I'm very proud of our resilience today and finding a way to win in any situation. We showed a lot of growth as a team and saw a lot of different players contributing to the total team success. I'm am looking forward to continuing our improvement tomorrow against some great teams," Cribbin noted.
On the day, Serra Rosa had 23 kills and Ivanovic added 22; the duo had four and five aces along with three and four blocks, respectively. Paola Soto Burgos contributed a total of 14 kills, with Eckert Rivera totaling 65 assists over the two matches. Camille Diaz Marin led the team with 11 digs in both contests.
AIC closes out the tournament on Saturday, August 27, facing Purdue Northwest at 1:30 p.m. and then in the final match of the weekend against the host Falcons at 6:00 p.m.
