Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University volleyball team's six-match winning streak was snapped Saturday at the hands of American International College, 3-1.

Adelphi and AIC have historically been two regional powerhouses over the last decade, and Saturday's tilt marked a rematch of both last season's NE10 Championship match (won by AIC) and NCAA regional semifinal (won by Adelphi). That win by Adelphi snapped an eight-match skid for the Panthers against AIC dating back to 2017, but on Saturday, an early deficit proved too much for Danielle MacKnight's club to overcome in its first NE10 match of the season.

The Panthers (10-5, 0-1 NE10) fell behind early in each of the three sets they lost, dropping the first set of a match for the first time since a 3-1 defeat against Quincy University on Sept. 16, and those holes largely proved too much to overcome despite Adelphi's best efforts.

The third set proved most crucial, and shifted the contest's momentum in AIC's favor. Adelphi trailed 5-2 and 11-8 in the set's first half, and knotted the action at both 21-21 (on a Jamaya Harris ace) and 23-23 (on a Brenna Valsted kill) late. But AIC setter Alice Di Francesco put a ball to the floor that gave the Yellow Jackets a set point, which they duly converted when Noelle Alberda's attack attempt missed. 

The loss also marked Adelphi's first defeat against a regional opponent in the first month of 2023. 

Aleksandra Ivanovic sparkled for AIC (8-6, 3-0 NE10) in the victory, as she hit .636 over four sets with a match-high 15 kills and just one hitting error. Di Francesco, in fact, did a little of everything for the Yellow Jackets, with her stat line featuring not just 43 assists, but 15 digs, seven aces and four kills.

Macarty McQueen led the Brown and Gold with 10 kills, while Valsted (28) and Jamie Yonker (26) were Adelphi's top performers in assists and digs, respectively. With 13 digs, Valsted logged a double-double for the third straight match.

Delaney Kiendra was also a bright spot for the home team, as she hit a team-high .533 with eight kills and zero attack errors in the three sets she played in.

Adelphi will look to start a new winning streak Tuesday when it travels to Pace University for a 7 p.m. NE10 tilt. 

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