SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Southern Connecticut State took American International to a fifth set on the road, but the Owls couldn't finish in the fifth set, falling 25-22, 20-25, 25-15, 19-25, 15-9 at Henry A. Butova Gymnasium.
The loss halted Southern's winning streak at four games as the Owls dropped to 11-4 on the season while AIC improved to 15-1. The Yellow Jackets entered the matchup having lost just six sets across their first 15 games before the Owls came from behind to send it to the deciding game. The last time Southern and AIC went to five sets was Oct. 28, 2014.
Kerrigan Habing led the Owls with 15 kills on .282 hitting with two aces and three digs. Katie Bardak added eight kills on .227 hitting with four blocks and six digs, Sarah Stark added eight kills on .261 hitting with five blocks, and Sydney Bennett finished with seven kills on .250 and five blocks.
Setter Kimberli Mitchell posted 36 assists, 13 digs and four blocks in a complete five-set effort, as well as four kills. The Owls finished with 50 kills, 27 errors on 151 attempts for .152 hitting, with five aces and 12 total blocks. SCSU out-blocked AIC 21 to 14 and dug 54 balls. AIC, which entered hitting .322 as a team, was held to .222 on the night.
Set one belonged to AIC late. SCSU led 15-14 after back-to-back kills from Habing and Mitchell and was tied 19-19 on a kill from Marisabelle Sias. AIC closed on a 6-3 burst behind kills from Guler and Michel. Perez Cortes' kill at 22-25 ended it. SCSU hit .162 in the frame to AIC's .324.
SCSU answered in set two. Trailing 11-14, the Owls ripped a 9-1 run sparked by an ace from Sarah Henault and kills from Habing and Stark. Brown and Bardak combined for two big blocks on Mendez and Perez Cortes during the surge. The Owls held AIC to .137 hitting in the set.
AIC responded emphatically in set three, hitting .533 with 17 kills and one error. The Yellow Jackets served three aces in the set, AIC won 25-15.
Set four was all Owls. SCSU jumped to 6-1 behind two kills from Habing and a solo ace, extended to 11-5 on back-to-back kills from Bennett, and never let AIC within four again. Mitchell spread the offense — four different Owls had two kills in the frame — while Stark and Bennett combined for three blocks on Michel and Guler. SCSU closed 25-19 on a bad set from Mendez.
In the fifth, SCSU ran out of steam. Tied 8-8 on a Michel error, AIC scored four straight behind a kill from Michel, a Mendez solo block on Pascual, and two SCSU attack errors. The Owls cut it to 9-13 on a Mitchell tip but couldn't close the gap. Michel's 15th kill made it 14-9, and a Pascual attack error blocked by Mendez ended it 15-9.
SCSU returns to Pelz Gymnasium on Friday to host Saint Anselm for its Northeast 10 Conference opener at 5 p.m.
