The Binghamton University volleyball team isn’t going to catch anyone by surprise this season. A year after finishing second, despite being projected to end up in fourth, the Bearcats are the preseason favorites to take the America East title.
In the annual poll of the six AE coaches, Binghamton University received four first-place votes and a total of 26 points. That put the team ahead of three-time defending champion University at Albany, which received two first-place votes and 19 points.
The Bearcats are coming off of a 9-3 conference season (16-15 overall) and a second-place finish. After defeating UMBC in the semifinals of the America East tournament, Binghamton fell to the top-seeded Albany Great Danes, 3-0, in the conference finals. According to Bearcats head coach and reigning America East Coach of the Year Glenn Kiriyama, the team is ready to start fresh.
“I think for the players, they’re very optimistic going into the season,” he said. “We came close last year and we just want to do a little better. They’re optimistic and getting some incentive to live up to the billing.”
The 2009-10 team will sport several changes from last year’s group. Outside hitter Ashley Allen and libero Jaclyn Srader, both co-captains last season, graduated from the University, as did Katie Thomas.
With the losses, though, come several new additions. Coach Kiriyama’s coaching staff will feature a new assistant coach, Rachel Refenes. She spent the last two years as an assistant coach at Lehigh University. According to Kiriyama, Refenes “comes with a lot of experience, and she’s got a lot of good insights into the game.” On the court, middle blocker Alexandrea Roland and Elana King join the team as freshmen, while new defensive specialist Jen Fiorentino is a sophomore. Kseniia Sukach will also join the team, having come from Ukraine.
Even with all the changes, perhaps what will be most important to this team is the return of the team’s core players and breakout stars. The Bearcats will feature three members of last year’s All-Conference first team in outside hitter Anna Lejina, outside hitter Michelle McDonough and setter Lindsey Mueller. McDonough ranked second in the conference in kills per set (3.56), while recording seven double-doubles and one triple-double. Lejina followed right behind her teammate with 3.53 kills per game, raising that average to 4.10 kills per game in conference play. Lejina also tied the team’s Division I record for kills in a match with 29 against the University of Maine. Mueller was second in the conference in assists per game with 10.23. Now juniors, all three will be expected to repeat and surpass their stellar performances from last season.
“We want them to continue to get better,” said Kiriyama. “They’ve been working hard. They need to set a good example in practice about how we want things done, about work ethic, and they’ve been doing that. They’ve been working hard and they’re really driven this year to do better.”
Experience will be a key word for this team. Of the team’s 13 players, nine are upperclassmen. Senior middle blocker Dawn Lammert was a member of the America East all-academic team and will be asked to anchor the middle, along with junior Mercedes Montford. Lammert will serve as co-captain, along with McDonough. Senior Brianna Strong, the only remaining member of the 2005 Bearcats team that won the school’s only America East volleyball title, will take over for Strader as libero.
The team is set to play a difficult non-conference schedule this season, a staple of Kiriyama’s teams. “The competition level of our schedule is just as demanding as the last couple of years,” Kiriyama said, according to a Binghamton University press release. “We will be traveling to four quality tournaments in September and look forward to the challenge.”
The Bearcats’ season opened this weekend at Hofstra University as part of the Hofstra/Asics Invitational. The team rolled in at second place, sweeping Hofstra, 3-0, defeating Rhode Island, 3-2, but losing to Marshall 3-0. Binghamton’s conference games are scheduled to begin on Friday, Oct. 2 at the University of New Hampshire. The first Bearcats home conference game will be on Oct. 16 against UMBC. Perhaps the most important weekend of the season will be Oct. 23 to 25, when the Bearcats will play a home-and-home against Albany. BU will play the role of visitor on Friday, Oct. 23, before returning home for the second match on Sunday.
After serving as Bearcat head coach for 10 seasons, coach Kiriyama has helmed both good teams and bad ones. Based on his experience, he says this year’s squad has the potential to be special.
“This is definitely one of the better squads we’ve ever had here, if not the best,” Kiriyama said. “They just have a lot of experience. I think from year to year to year we continue to get better in small ways and many different ways, and the experience that we have coming back is one of the greatest factors.”