SPRINGFIELD ,Mass – After a home stand that included their senior day, the New Haven Women's Volleyball team took to the road to begin their revenge tour first looking for redemption against the Yellow jackets from American International College. The Yellow jackets and Chargers split in 2021 but the Chargers are looking to knock off the defending conference champs who beat New Haven in the finals a season ago in Springfield. The preseason one vs two with playoffs on the line was a test of both teams.
Series History
Entering the match with the Yellow jackets the Chargers lead the series history 47-4 all time against AIC, with the two teams splitting their 2021 matchups with the Chargers winning at home 3-1 before AIC won at home 3-2 over the Chargers. The Yellow jackets 3-2 win over the Chargers a season ago came in the NE-10 Conference Championship where the two teams met as the top seeds in the tournament. AIC entered this season as the preseason number one as New Haven finished second in the preseason poll as the two powerhouses met for New Haven's inevitable revenge match.
The Chargers came out hot against the Yellow jackets with Kylie Reynolds-Martin (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) striking first with a kill to open up the match. That was just the beginning as New Haven put together an early streak of three straight points highlighted with kills from Amihan Johnson (Tacoma, Wash./Fife High School) and Emily Barry (Freeport, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) that would create a lead the Chargers would hold all game. Up 11-10 it was Johnson again picking up a big kill that would start the late surge for the Chargers in the first set to pull away from AIC late, with Johnson closing out the set with a kill to take the early 1-0 lead following the set win. In the second set the blue and gold came out hot again with Avery Moore (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville Community High School) opening up the scoring with two kills along with Barry to take the early lead. The Yellow jackets however responded and took the lead from the Chargers and went on to win 25-16 and even the set at 1-1. In the third set, New Haven kept things close, with Avery Moore (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville Community High School), Amihan Johnson (Tacoma, Wash./Fife High School) and Macy Brown (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac) all registering kills to keep things close but AIC never let the Chargers close the gap taking the set again 25-16 and going up 2-1. In the pivotal fourth set, both teams went back and forth with the largest lead being only three. Down the stretch Amihan Johnson (Tacoma, Wash./Fife High School) tied things up with a kill before picking up a block to keep it level heading into a Chargers timeout all tied up. Out of the break however it was AIC that would close things out scoring three of the last five to take the set 25-22 and win the match 3-1. Amihan Johnson (Tacoma, Wash./Fife High School) led the offense with 18 kills and two blocks followed by Kylie Reynolds-Martin (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) with 10 kills. Sophia Leon-Tabor (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers) added 41 assists.
Up Next
The Chargers drop to 8-8 and return back to Connecticut and Elm City for the second part of their revenge tour this time against their cross town rival Southern Connecticut State University. The Chargers make the short trip to Southern on Saturday October 8 with tip off from Pelz Gymnasium at 3 p.m. as the Chargers look to avenge their loss at home against the Owls a year ago and get back above .500 on the year. All post-game coverage, stats and stories for both games will be available at NewHavenChargers.com.
