BOX SCORE WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven women’s volleyball team knocked off visiting American International, 3-1, to clinch to No. 1 seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Conference Championship. The victory, which came by set scores of 25-16, 29-31, 25-8 and 25-15, was the 19th-straight win for the Chargers.

New Haven improves to 22-1 overall and remains perfect at 13-0 in the Northeast-10. The Chargers have locked up the top seed in the conference championship and will earn sole possession of the regular season title with one win or one Adelphi loss in either club’s final two regular-season matches.

Keidy Candelaria (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Bayamon Military Academy) led all players with 15 kills and 15 digs to record her fourth-straight double-double and 10th of the fall overall. The reigning Northeast-10 Player of the Year and 2011 All-America honoree also landed three aces while hitting .387 (15-3-31). Amber Cannady (Yonkers, N.Y./Charles E. Gorton) added 12 kills, and fellow middle Kristy Atufunwa (Denver, Colo./Denver East) notched six. Kristen Lee (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) hammered five finishers, and Ashley Dalton (Helena, Mont./Capital / Northern Arizona University), Kaulana Ane (Paia, Hawai'i/Kamehameha) and Hayley Wilson (Denver, Colo./Overland) had one apiece. As a unit, New Haven hit .231 (41-14-117) in the match.
 
Ane doled out 37 assists from the setter spot and fell just shy of a double-double with nine digs.
 
Defensively, Kea-Marie Olaso (Kailua, Hawai'i/Le Jardin Academy) joined Candelaria in double-figures with 12 digs as the libero. Lee had nine and Bai Zhang (China/Shan Dong Zi Bo No. 10 / China Shan Dong Normal University) contributed four from the back row. At the net, Cannady and Atufunwa each had a hand in five of the Chargers’ 11 blocks. The New Haven defense limited the Yellow Jackets to a .027 hitting percentage (41-37-147).
 
Lee landed a match-best four of the Chargers’ season-high 14 service aces. Candelaria had three, Ane and Margo Meteyer (Madison, Wis./Madison West) each had two and Olaso, Zhang and Ashley Gomez (El Paso, Texas/Ysleta) accounted for one winner apiece.
 
American International was led by 15 kills and 11 digs from Bailey Swan. Kervelle Redhead distributed 31 assists and completed a double-double with 10 digs.
 
New Haven ceded consecutive points just once through the majority of the first set en route to a quick set-point opportunity at 24-13. AIC fought off a trio of potential set-enders until Candelaria slammed the door with her second kill of frame to give the Chargers a 25-16 win.
 
The first multiple-point lead of the second set went to American International at 12-10. The Chargers promptly knotted the frame again at 13-13 and then built their largest cushion of the set at 19-15. The back-and-forth continued as a 5-0 Yellow Jackets’ run gave the visitors a set-point chance holding a 24-22 lead. A Cannady kill, a block from Cannady and Ane and a Candelaria kill swung the advantage back to New Haven at 25-24, but the persistent Yellow Jackets erased the set-point try. In total, the clubs combined for seven unsuccessful set-point attempts in the frame before American International claimed the marathon set, 31-29, to tie the match at 1-1.
 
After 18 ties and nine lead changes in the second set, the Chargers never trailed again in the match. New Haven won the first 10 rallies of the third set and never looked back, leading by as many as 17 points in a convincing 25-8 victory to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Now just one set from victory, the Chargers again started strong with a 5-1 run. The Yellow Jackets briefly cut the deficit to two points before an 11-3 stretch gave New Haven an 18-9 advantage. Despite a pair of late 3-0 spans for AIC, the Chargers never took their foot off the gas and sealed the match with a 25-15 triumph.
 
The Chargers will attempt to close out their fifth-consecutive unbeaten regular season of Northeast-10 play this week. Tomorrow, New Haven heads to Pace for a 7 p.m. contest before wrapping up the conference slate at Charger Gymnasium on Friday against Bentley. The Chargers will host a Northeast-10 Conference Championship Quarterfinal on Tuesday, Nov. 13 against the eighth-seeded team. The semifinal and championship rounds will be held on Friday, Nov. 16 and Saturday, Nov. 17 at the highest remaining seed.