SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A month ago, the Bentley University women's volleyball team outlasted visiting American International College in five sets with that match considered non-conference.

Saturday night, the two teams met again and once again they went five with the home team prevailing. However, this time it was American International that pulled out the victory with this one breaking a tie between the two clubs in the conference standings.

With the back-and-forth 25-13, 23-25, 18-25, 25-17, 15-6 win at Butova Gym, AIC moved to 7-2 NE10, good for second place, and improved to 14-9 overall. Bentley fell into a tie for fourth at 6-3 and slipped to 15-7 overall.

AIC was powered by sophomore outside hitter Jana Potic (Belgrade, Serbia), who hit .370 with 20 kills, 12 digs and six of her team's 13 service aces. ­­­Junior setter Dolores Kopren (Novi Sad, Serbia) provided the assist on 51 of AIC's 61 kills and also had 14 digs, and senior outside hitter Annie Boele (Clovis, Calif.) also recorded a double-double (14 kills, 10 digs) while hitting .333.

Senior McKenna Buck (Renton, Wash./Holy Names Acad.) was a force in the middle for Bentley as she hit .643 with ten kills and only one error in 14 attacks. Her kill total was matched by sophomore middle Rachel Bruno (San Diego, Calif./Frances Parker School), whose night also included seven blocks and five digs. Senior libero Celia Cristofoli (Fort Collins, Colo./Hudson (Ohio) HS) led the Falcons in digs with 15, and senior Isabella Perez (Lafayette, Calif./Carondelet HS) had three aces.

The team that hit better won all five sets with AIC finishing at .228 and Bentley .146. The Falcons were at .375 and .207 in the two sets they won and .075, .051 and .000 in the other three. Aces (13-6) and digs (92-67) also favored the Yellow Jackets while the Falcons had the edge in blocks, 11-4.

Bentley is also on the road Tuesday, playing a 7 pm match at Merrimack.