Sasa Sucic/Staff Photographer
Close

After overcoming the odds and winning the America East tournament, the Binghamton University women’s volleyball team will look to pull off an upset of epic proportions this weekend — or at least enjoy the experience of trying.

The Bearcats (15-15, 5-5 AE) had to beat a hot University of New Hampshire team, and then three-time defending conference champion University at Albany, in order to take the America East crown. As winners of the conference, Binghamton has earned an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, its first appearance since 2005.

“They’re even more excited than I am,” said Binghamton head coach Glenn Kiriyama. “They’re a good group and they’re looking forward to the opportunity to go to the [NCAA] tournament and they’re just very appreciative of having played so well and having won the conference tournament.”

Now, though, the Bearcats face an almost impossible task: beating No. 1 overall seed Penn State University. The Nittany Lions (32-0), who are Big Ten Conference champions and will host the match, are the two-time defending national champions and are currently riding a 96-match win streak, which is an NCAA record. Their last loss came in September of 2007. Over the course of this season, they have dropped just five total sets, after losing no sets in the regular season last year.

Though BU generally does not play against nationally ranked opponents, these two teams do have some history. When BU last played in the NCAA tournament in 2005, their opponent was also Penn State. The Bearcats lost that match 3-0 (30-15, 30-8, 30-10). As the only current member of that team, senior Brianna Strong has a unique perspective on the team’s upcoming match.

“It’s tons of fun,” she said. “I mean, to go into a big area, to play a huge team. I mean, our performance my freshman year wasn’t all that great, but it’s just, go out and have fun. We’re the underdogs, we’re expected to lose. We have nothing to lose. Going out there and playing our hearts out and giving them a game would be shocking to a majority of the nation.”

Penn State features four First-Team All-Big Ten members, led by Big Ten Player of the Year in senior outside hitter Megan Hodge. A Nittany Lion has now won Player of the Year in each of the last five years. Penn State head coach Russ Rose won Coach of the Year honors, and freshman outside hitter Darcy Dorton was named Freshman of the Year.

While some might be dismayed at having to play such a powerful opponent in the first round, the Bearcats are excited for the opportunity to play the top team in the nation.

“I’m really excited, I think it’s going to be a good challenge for us,” said senior co-captain Dawn Lammert. “I’m excited to play someone new that we haven’t seen at all … For me it’s something new. It’s definitely an honor to play someone that much better than you. And that’s how you get better at anything, is by challenging yourself and playing someone that’s better than you and it will be something to learn too … The first seed, that’s a great draw, that’s the best you could ask for to be able to play the best in the nation.”

The players are excited just to make it to the NCAA tournament, but they are still taking the match seriously. The team has taken this week to prepare for the match, especially after being off for two weeks. According to Kiriyama, this Penn State team is even better than the one that they faced in 2005, so the team will need to play with the same level of intensity that they did during the conference tournament. While he acknowledges that odds are against his team, he won’t count them out yet.

“There’s always a chance, you never know and that’s why all these games are played,” he said. “Even Binghamton has a chance to beat Penn State. There’s always a chance to make history, and someone’s got to do it. We want to play sound volleyball, good volleyball, and just be ready for whatever comes at us.”

The Bearcats are set to play at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Penn State.