The Binghamton University women’s volleyball team’s season has come to a close, and the final results were as good as anyone could have hoped. The Bearcats ended the year doing battle with the top team in the nation, though it was in a losing effort, after having overcome a low seeding to win the conference tournament.
The Bearcats finish with a 15-16 overall record, and a 7-5 record in America East, including tournament matches. Binghamton earned a berth in the NCAA tournament and was given a matchup with top-seeded Penn State University in the first round, as was the case when the team last made the tournament in 2005.
“It was an exciting experience,” said Binghamton head coach Glenn Kiriyama. “Just the atmosphere, all the teams there and the level of play just made it all exciting.”
The match, which was played in Penn State’s Rec Hall, was one that BU was never expected to win. While Binghamton was a 15-15 team coming from a small conference, Penn State was the two-time defending champion and riding a 96-match win streak coming in. The Bearcats showed a little flair early, taking the opening point on a kill from junior Anna Lejina. After going up 2-1, the Bearcats allowed the Nittany Lions to go on a 10-0 run to help take the set 25-9.
The second set was a little closer, though the end result was similar. Penn State hit .435 to Binghamton’s .087 to win 25-13. The final set was the Bearcats’ best showing. The team was able to stay within 12-10 of the Nittany Lions midway through the third set. Penn State proved to be too much, though, as the team hit .739 in the set en route to a 25-14 final score. Considering the circumstances, Kiriyama was pleased with his team’s play.
“We played alright,” he said. “There was a lot of stuff to go through to make it there, and there’s a lot of distractions at the tournament, but I thought we played well. We wish we could’ve played better, but we were up against a team that I think sort of forces it on you.”
Junior outside hitter and co-captain Michelle McDonough, who tied with teammate Lejina for the conference kills title this season, led the Bearcats with nine kills. Junior setter Lindsey Mueller put up 16 assists and senior libero Brianna Strong, who played on the Bearcats’ last championship team, had a team-high five digs. Senior outside hitter and Big 10 Player of the Year Megan Hodge led Penn State with 13 kills, and as a team the Nittany Lions put up 7.5 blocks.
With the end of the team’s NCAA tournament run comes the end of the team’s season. After projecting to finish No. 1 and barely making the playoffs, BU rallied back to win games against a pair of hot teams to take the America East tournament. Overall, Kiriyama sees a lot to be proud of.
“As a whole, we finished great,” he said. “It was a rewarding season, when you think of how we finished and how we were able to go to the tournament. But during the season, we had our struggles. We finished .500, and we wish we could’ve done better in a lot of matches that we played. It was an up-and-down season, but we finished on the upslope.”
The season has just come to an end, and that means it’s time to start thinking about next year. According to Kiriyama, they have already been looking for new recruits, and will continue to do so. In addition, the staff will spend time focusing on helping their players recuperate from a long season, and preparing them for next year.