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After getting a taste of life back home, the Binghamton University women’s volleyball team was on the road again, taking one of three in West Point over the weekend.

The Bearcats (6-6) are midway through a six-game road stretch that includes matches at Army and Yale University. Binghamton is 3-6 on the road so far this season.

The Bearcats opened the West Point Challenge on Saturday against the University of Iowa (8-4). Keeping the score close at 10-10 in the first set, the match had the makings of a tight battle. However, the Hawkeyes would proceed to go on a 15-3 run, including seven unanswered at the end, to take the set 25-13. In that first set, the Bearcats recorded more errors (eight) than kills (seven). The Bearcats performed well in the first half of the second set as well, taking a 9-5 lead to open the game. Iowa came back and the set was back-and-forth from that point on. The Bearcats were poised to take the set, leading 22-21, but couldn’t hold off the final Iowa rally and lost, 25-23.

“I thought we played pretty well throughout that game there, but in the end they just had too much firepower on their side,” Binghamton’s head coach, Glenn Kiriyama, said.

The final set was less competitive than both of the first two, as the Hawkeyes took it 25-11. Junior Sandra DeVito had the team high with eight kills, and Anna Lejina had just five. It was the first time Lejina failed to record double-digit kills since the first match of the season. Hawkeye junior Aimee Huffman had a match-high 10 kills. The Hawkeyes also had nine blocks as a team, a factor that Kiriyama considered to be a key to the match.

“I thought Iowa did a really good job of blocking against us,” he said. “They had some tall players. They just gave our hitters a little bit of trouble at the net. They sort of had control of the net, which really hurt us.”

The Bearcats came back out Saturday afternoon looking for a comeback against Morgan State University (4-14), and that was what they got. The Bearcats took the first set 25-16 on the strength of 16 kills against just four errors. The second set was a better performance out of Morgan State, as they went up 20-19 in the set. The Bearcats took the last six points, though, to hold off the Bears 25-20. The final set was another good performance by Binghamton, taking an 11-1 lead en route to a 25-15 victory.

The match was a solid one overall for BU. The team tallied seven blocks and hit .281 while holding the Bears to just .049. Anna Lejina bounced back with 18 kills, followed by junior co-captain Michelle McDonough who had a double-double of 14 kills and 12 digs while hitting .419. Lindsey Mueller added 35 assists.

“The team, they’re competitive,” Kiriyama said. “After a loss they certainly want to get back on a winning streak, so they came out ready to play, and they had a pretty good match against Morgan State.”

The final match of the weekend was against home team Army (12-3), which had beaten No. 19 University just a week earlier and entered the match 3-0 in the tournament. The match began very well for the Bearcats, who used an 18-12 lead to take the first set 25-23. The second set was a reversal of fortunes, as the Black Knights came back in dominant fashion, recording 17 kills on .452 hitting and taking the set 25-13.

The Bearcats didn’t back down, they answered back immediately with a strong set of their own. Hitting .333 to Army’s .029, the Bearcats had the biggest win of the match, taking the set 25-12. The win put Binghamton a single set away from beating the Black Knights. Things looked bleak early, with Army taking an 18-12 lead. Binghamton showed some fight and resiliency, battling back to within 22-21. Army would show their toughness and hold on to take the set 25-22 to force the deciding final set.

“It was a pretty sizeable lead that Army had and I thought our team did a good job of just fighting to the end there,” said Kiriyama. “It was just … too little too late there.”

With margins of victory ranging from 13 to two in the first four sets, there was no guarantee of the outcome of the match. The teams were tied at five early in the final set. The Black Knights, though, showed why they’ve been considered such a strong team and pulled ahead to take the set, 15-9, and with it the match, three sets to two.

“It was a good match, I just wish we could’ve played just a little bit better,” said Kiriyama. “Army is a good team, and it would have been a really good win if we had pulled that one out.”

Lejina led the match with 20 kills, and Mueller added 42 assists en route to being named to the All-Tournament team. Just a week ago she was named to College Volleyball Update’s Performer of the Week list, a national honor. Kiriyama called her the “quarterback of the team,” noting that she set the pace and plays a vital role on the court.

The Bearcats finish off their stretch of road games with matches scheduled against Central Connecticut State University and Yale University, as part of the Yale Classic on Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m. The team then travels to Quinnipiac University on Sunday for a scheduled 2 p.m. matchup.