COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's volleyball team fell to American International College, 3-1 (25-12, 21-25, 25-11, 25-17), Saturday in the Ross Sports Center during Northeast-10 Conference play. The Yellow Jackets were among 10 teams who were under consideration in this week's NCAA East Region rankings. The Purple Knights clinched their first postseason berth since the 1995 season despite the loss.

The Purple Knights honored seniors Caitlin O'Connor (Bourne, Mass./Bourne) and Beth Syverson (Huntington, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union/Emmanuel [Mass.]) in a pre-match ceremony.                                                            
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (6-10, 4-5 NE10), AIC (15-8, 8-2 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Caitlin O'Connor (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 12 kills
• Junior Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 33 assists, 17 digs
• Sophomore Ella Patterson (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago), 9 kills, 7 digs
• Sophomore Dana Welch (Hopewell, N.J./Donovan Catholic), 8 kills, 3 blocks
• First-year Grace Almeida (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), 5 kills, 4 blocks
• First-year Kyla Farnan (Phoenix, Ariz./Pinnacle), 18 digs

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Kristina Peric, 12 kills
• Junior Paolo Soto Burgos, 12 kills, 7 digs, 4 blocks
• Junior Amber Williams, 12 kills, .476 hitting
• Junior Alice Di Francesco, 41 assists, 13 digs
• Junior Dora Butkovic, 16 digs, 4 aces
• Sophomore Perla Rosa, 15 digs, 8 assists

MATCH FACTS

• The Purple and Gold clinched its first playoff berth since 1995.
• The Purple Knights are currently tied for sixth place in the NE10 standings with two conference matches left in the regular season.

THE ACTION

• The Yellow Jackets started off set No. 1 with a 12-6 lead on an ace from junior Gabryela Castro de Jesus. AIC then cruised on an 8-1 run to extend the lead to 19-7. Saint Michael's scored three of the next four points, but the Yellow Jackets rebutted with a 5-2 run to win the first set.
• The Purple and Gold had an emphatic response in set No. 2, jumping out to an early 7-3 lead capped off by a kill from O'Connor. Williams contributed three kills in a 5-2 run for AIC, but the Purple Knights went on an 8-1 run behind three kills from Patterson to make the score 17-9. The Yellow Jackets went on a run of their own, scoring seven of the next eight points, cutting the Purple Knights' lead down to two. O'Connor had a kill for the next point, and Patterson contributed a block and a kill for the last two Purple Knight points of set No. 2 to tie the match.
• The Yellow Jackets scored 19 of the first 23 points in set No. 3, and never wavered, being led by Williams' third kill of the set to post a 25-11 win.
• Welch had two kills for the Purple Knights as they played evenly with the Yellow Jackets to a 6-6 stalemate in the beginning of set No. 4. O'Connor contributed consecutive kills to keep Saint Michael's within 15-14. The Yellow Jackets capped off their victory with a 10-3 run to win the fourth set led by Butkovic, who collected four kills for AIC in the final set.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S MATCH

• Friday at Southern Connecticut State University, 5 p.m.