PLEASANTVILLE, New York - The American International College women's volleyball team will head into the 2025 Northeast 10 Conference Championship Tournament on a high note after closing out the regular season with a 25-16, 18-25, 25-21, 25-14 conference win at Pace University on Saturday, November 15.

AIC is now 16-6 and ends conference play at 7-2.

The Yellow Jackets came out strong in the first and hit their way to a win thanks in large part to a .323 attack percentage. An early 5-0 run was keyed by a pair of Daniella Russo-Lolas aces, and she later nailed three consecutive serves to put the team ahead 18-9. Carissa Michel landed five kills on seven swings in the set to lead the way.

Pace rallied in the second set. After an early back-and-forth that saw the set tied 14-14, six straight Setters points put it out of reach. Kadence Ackmann notched a late kill followed by an ace to give the hosts set point and an AIC error sealed the win to tie the match; Ackmann and Emily Cineus combined for nine kills on 15 swings in the frame.

The Setters took the momentum into the third early with a 4-0 run to open, but AIC rallied back and tied the score at nine on back-to-back Janelys Perez Cortes kills. From there, AIC rolled, outscoring the Setters 16-12, with Victoria Soto Burgos finishing the set with a kill.

Now in control, AIC closed out strong. Three straight Perez Cortes kills forced a Pace timeout with the Yellow Jackets up 13-6, and the Yellow Jackets did not let up. Chelsea Foulis had three kills from three different passers down the stretch to lead the way and on match point, a mishandled set gave AIC the win.

On the match, Michel led AIC with 12 kills, hitting .556, while Paola Soto Burgos and Perez Cortes each added 10; incredibly, Perez Cortes did not have a single attack error in her 27 swings. Perla Rosa and Russo-Lolas each made 11 digs to lead AIC, and Russo-Lolas also dished 27 assists on top of her six aces. 

AIC now heads into the NE10 Tournament as the third seed. The Yellow Jackets will host sixth-seeded Saint Anselm College on Tuesday, November 18, with first serve slated for 6:00 p.m.