SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Fifteen kills and a .394 hitting percentage  by senior Lauren Van Buren (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa HS) in her final career match wasn't enough as the seventh-seeded Bentley University Falcons fell to number two American International College, 3-1, in the quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 Conference Championships Tuesday night at Butova Gymnasium.

The 25-9, 25-19, 21-25, 25-22 loss ended Bentley's season at 11-18. AIC, with its third win of the season over the Falcons, improved to 25-5 and will host the final two rounds of the championships this weekend.

AIC, which cruised in the opening set, continued the momentum into the second, picking up nine of the first 11 points.  After being outscored 34-11 to start the match, Bentley came alive and on the strength of a Van Buren kill, got within one at 21-19. However, the comeback bid fell short as the Yellow Jackets scored the next four points to grab a 2-0 lead.

After zero lead changes and no ties in the first two sets, it was a different story in a back-and-forth third. Down 18-17, Bentley ran off five straight, a run that featured two kills and a block assist by Van Buren and an ace from senior setter Allie Rotkin (Cumming, Ga./Milton HS), to go up 22-18. Kills by junior outside hitter Shannon Kelly (Hyde Park, N.Y./Franklin D. Roosevelt HS) and freshman outside Dani Milner (Plano, Texas/The Greenhill School) ended the set and kept the Falcons alive.

Bentley, vying to force a fifth set, had a 15-12 lead in the fourth before the momentum changed with five straight points by the Yellow Jackets. The AIC lead grew to five at 21-16, but the Falcons thrice got back within two before giving up match point on a kill from senior middle Caitlin Sobolewski (Guilford, Conn.).

In addition to the strong performance from Van Buren, Bentley received nine kills from Kelly and eight from Milner. Both flirted with a double-double with Kelly having 10 digs and Milner 13, along with four blocks.

Sophomore Dina Rivas-Reyes (Tucson, Ariz.) led AIC with 24 kills and a .333 hitting percentage, and sophomore setter Dolores Kopren (Novi Sad, Serbia) finished with 55 assists and ten digs.

Bentley will lose three players from this year's squad to graduation: Van Buren, Rotkin and Ashley Latimer (Croton on Hudson, N.Y./Croton Harmon HS).