If the Binghamton University women’s volleyball team is going to have a defining moment this season, it could very well come this weekend. The preseason conference favorites will face off against three-time defending America East tournament champion University at Albany over the weekend in a home-and-home series.
The Bearcats (11-9, 3-1 AE) are coming off a three-set win over Stony Brook University on Sunday. Prior to that match, the Bearcats rallied back from two sets down before falling in five sets to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Both matches were at home and freshman Alex Roland was named America East Rookie of the Week for her performance.
Albany has fared a little better than BU. The Great Danes (14-8, 4-0 AE) are undefeated in conference this year after going the entire conference season without a loss last year and has won the last three America East tournaments and four of the last five regular season titles.
Despite all of this, the Bearcats were picked to finish first in the conference. BU received four first-place votes and 27 points in the preseason America East coaches’ poll, while Albany had two votes to finish first and 19 points. Binghamton head coach Glenn Kiriyama feels that it is his team’s veteran leadership that has the coaches convinced.
“I imagine they look at our returners,” he said. “We had three All-Conference returners. They just look at the experience our team brings to this year.”
Those returners have proved pivotal to Binghamton this season. Junior outside hitters Anna Lejina and Michelle McDonough are second and third, respectively, in kills in the conference and have combined for three America East Player of the Week awards. Fellow junior Lindsey Mueller is second in the conference in assists and has won a pair of Setter of the Week honors.
It should be a tough battle for the Bearcats. BU has not beaten Albany in a match since September 2006, losing six matches in that span. In order to justify that first-place prediction, the team will have to prove it against its conference rival.
“We want to win,” Kiriyama said. “Albany’s always one of those matches that we look forward to. We just want to play well and compete well against them … We’re just working on trying to get better every day in the gym. We want to sort of play to their weaknesses, and hopefully try and stop their offense. They’ve got a really good offense, and we’ve been trying to work on our blocking and our back row defense.”
The Great Danes have put up stellar team numbers, as they are first in the conference in hitting percentage, assists, kills, blocks and digs; Binghamton is in the middle of the pack in these categories. But even with all of the great team numbers, Albany has had one player shine as its star. Junior setter Brooke Stanley has won the last three Setter of the Week awards, and was given the additional honor of winning the Player of the Week award last week. She is the conference leader in assists, eighth in service aces and 10th in digs. Containing her will be a key to the Bearcats’ success this weekend.
“She’s a tough competitor,” Kiriyama said of Stanley. “We’re going to try and do what we can, serving-wise and defensive-wise, to try and slow down their offense.”
The first match of the weekend is set to be played on Friday at 7 p.m. in Albany, while the second match is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Sunday at the West Gym.