WALTHAM, Mass. – Graduate outside hitter Kristina Peric made Post University Women's Volleyball history, recording 13 kills in the NCAA Tournament Second Round matchup against top-seed Bentley University on Friday evening, but Post would see its season come to an end against the defending East Region champions in four sets, 3-1.

Peric surpassed Tadj Williams' record mark of 617 kills in a single season, set back in 2005, as she finishes her season with 621 kills. The mark falls just 23 kills short of the single-season record for kills in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference set by Chase Wassel of Holy Family University in 2018 with 644 kills.

THE BASICS

Post University 1, Bentley University 3

Post University (26-6)

Bentley University (26-4)


HOW IT HAPPENED
12 tie scores would make up a back-and-forth opening set between the two teams, but Bentley would ultimately come out on top, 25-22, to secure the first set victory. Neither side led by more than three points at any point as a 4-0 run early on for Post, behind two kills from Peric, made it an 8-5 set lead. As it wore on, yet again, the Eagles would go ahead by three, 17-14, before the wheels began falling off on their edge, resulting in the Falcons seizing control.

After leading 20-19, Bentley's 6-0 run, featuring three attack errors by the Eagles, helped them seize the lead for good as sophomore outside hitter Sophia Poehlein teed off for seven kills on 15 attempts with a .267 attack percentage, followed by senior middle blocker Elizabeth Blinn with four kills on five attempts. For Post, Peric led all scorers with six kills, taking 22 attempts, which led to a .114 attack percentage from the Serbian native.

Inching closer to history in set two, Peric would have nine kills, tying Williams for the single-season record as the Eagles found their way back into the set following an early 5-1 hole. Bentley's lead never grew beyond that four-point edge as junior middle blocker Nuri Shahid-Stevenson jump-started a stretch in which Post scored seven of the next eight points to take their first lead since it was 1-0, 11-9.

The dominance continued with another 4-0 run following a kill from Poehlein and then again with five consecutive points after Blinn broke it up with a kill of her own. In all, the Eagles strung together a run that gave them a commanding nine-point lead, 20-11, but would end up needing to hang on for a close 25-22 set win. Down by nine, Poehlein recorded back-to-back kills, while four attack errors by Post made for five set points before graduate setter Alice DiFrancesco slammed the door on the comeback bid.

Set three would be anything but close compared to the first two sets of the matchup, as the Falcons started on a 4-0 run and never looked back, as Post would only pull within three points, 6-3, before Bentley held a steady advantage on them the rest of the way. In all, the Eagles would commit six attack errors, four bad sets, and a service error for a combined 11 unforced errors, allowing the Falcons to steamroll their way to a 25-11 set victory.

During the 14-point set loss, Peric would surpass the Williams record with her lone kill of the third, pushing her to 10 on the evening and 618 kills on the year, breaking the 617-kill mark from 2005. However, more importantly, Post would need to try saving their season in set four on the brink of elimination against Bentley.

Errors would continue to haunt the Eagles in set four as it was another wire-to-wire victory for the Falcons, who jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the frame and never looked back. Eliminated with a 25-13 set loss following 11 attack errors, Post's season came to a close with a 26-6 record overall, matching their win-loss record from the 2016 season when they made it to the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles finished the game with 33 attack errors, 17 of which came in the final two sets, while 17 attack errors from Bentley in the first two sets were reduced to just five errors in the final two sets. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Kristina Peric broke Post University's single-season kills record, recording 13 kills tonight to surpass Tadj Williams' record mark of 617 kills during the 2005 season – Peric will finish with the third-most kills in conference history in a single season behind only Bloomfield College's Eduarda Modaneze with 633 kills in 2002 and Holy Family University's Chase Wassel with 644 kills in 2018 with 621 kills
• Post University finishes the season with 26 wins and six losses, matching their best record in program history with the 2016 team, which fell in the NCAA Tournament's first round
• Bentley University has won seven consecutive matches against Post University, dating back to the 2018 season, winning all of them in four sets or less
• Tonight marked the first time in program history that Post University and Bentley University have met in the NCAA Tournament