The Binghamton volleyball team headed to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Invitational this weekend hoping to snap a three-game losing streak. However, BU (1-14) faltered, dropping four consecutive contests to push their skid to seven games.
“I think we struggled quite a bit to find any consistency,” BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama said. “But there were times when we played well. We won a couple games, and some close games that we lost … I know we can play better, so we just have to keep at it.”
In their opening match, the Bearcats fell behind, 19-11, to Bethune-Cookman. BU battled back with a late 5-0 run, but it was too little too late as they fell, 25-19. The Bearcats continued to struggle throughout the remainder of the contest, dropping the second set, 25-17, and the third, 25-19. Mistakes hampered the Bearcats, who committed nine service attempt errors while Bethune-Cookman banged home eight aces in the match.
“I think … our serve-receives have just got to get better,” Kiriyama said. “I think that it will make everything else work out a lot better, including our hitting percentage and hopefully our point scoring too.”
In their second match of the day, the Bearcats were defeated by host UMES in straight sets. The Bearcats struggled, finishing with a .062 hitting percentage, compared to the host’s .226. UMES also finished with a 40-23 advantage in kills.
Binghamton returned to action on Saturday against Rider. The team started slowly, dropping the first two sets by identical 25-21 scores. The Bearcats won their only set of the weekend in the third, through which they lead from start to finish.
BU jumped out to an 11-4 lead, stretching its lead to nine. However, Rider responded with a 6-1 run of its own, cutting the lead to four. Two kills by senior outside hitter Kristin Hovie increased the lead and a kill by junior Megan Burgess terminated the set, 25-19. Despite the win, the Bearcats could not sustain their momentum. In a lengthy fourth set, Rider built a 16-11 lead. BU forced a tie at 23 points, but Rider quelled the late surge by taking the advantage. BU successfully defended five set-points, but could not hold back the tides on the sixth, dropping the set, 33-31, to end the game.
In its final match of the tournament, Binghamton’s offense dissipated, losing in straight sets to Campbell. The Bearcats were unable to generate a rhythm and committed nearly as many attack errors (23) as kills (24), resulting in a team hitting percentage of .011. Campbell, on the other hand, finished with a blistering .323 percentage and only eight attack errors.
Despite their disastrous start to the season, Kiriyama still believes that his Bearcats can rally in the upcoming weeks.
“They’re capable,” Kiriyama said. “I still have faith in them that they’ll keep getting better, and I know the season is getting on here and so we got to start seeing it soon here. They’re working at it. They know what they need to do … I’d just like to be more efficient at being able to side out when the other team is serving, so we have to be able to pass the serve and then convert from there into points.”
The Bearcats are scheduled to play their last non-conference match on Wednesday at Cornell. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.