SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - For the first time in program history, the American International College women's volleyball team has run the gauntlet of the Northeast-10 Conference and come out unbeaten, finishing a 10-0 NE10 campaign with a 25-16, 25-13, 25-17 sweep of Pace University on Saturday, November 16.

Overall, AIC is now 16-6 on the season.

The match served as AIC's senior night, and fittingly it was Alice Di Francesco who opened the match with a service ace, helping AIC to a quick 5-1 lead. Pace hung around until the middle of the set when AIC took seven of eight points to go ahead 18-9, with more aces by Di Francesco and Daniella Russo-Lolas in the run. The set ended with a Janelys Perez Cortes kill that came off of a pass from Victoria Soto Burgos.

Perez Cortes also scored AIC's first two kills of the second, helping undo the first two points by Pace with a 4-0 run. Once again, AIC pulled away in the middle of the set, with a pair of five-point stretches that featured multiple kills by Perez Cortes, Victoria Mendez, and Aleksandra Lucic to put AIC ahead 21-11. Soto Burgos ended the second shortly after with a kill to put AIC within one set of the perfect regular season.

Di Francesco started it again with two aces, and a six-point stretch with two Russo-Lolas aces forced a Pace timeout with AIC up 9-2. The Setters were never able to close the gap, and Perez Cortes finished the match off with a shot to the wood that etched a spot in AIC volleyball history.

AIC hit .327 for the match while holding Pace to .064. Perez Cortes hit .391 with a match-best 12 kills, with Mendez adding nine and Lucic seven; Lucic's came on just 14 swings, as she hit .429 on the evening. Di Francesco dished 23 assists and made nine digs; she and Russo-Lolas each aced four serves. Perla Rosa led the match with 14 digs. 

The team has won its third regular season crown in four years, having previously won in 2021 and 2022; it is the seventh time under Head Coach Matt Cribbin that the team has won at least 10 conference games in a season, all since 2016, and the 11th time in program history dating back to when the NE10 began tracking conference standings in 1986.

The Yellow Jackets now turn their attention to the second season, as they will host Assumption University in the Northeast-10 Championship Quarterfinals on Tuesday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m. at the Henry Butova Gymnasium.