When the Binghamton women’s volleyball team hit the road this weekend, it sat in second in America East standings. With a win, the Bearcats (8-19, 6-5 AE) would have clinched a spot in the conference playoffs. Instead, they faltered, dropping matches to both Stony Brook and Hartford, and falling to fourth in the conference as a result.
BU came out flat against Stony Brook on Friday evening. After a tightly contested first set, which saw the Seawolves (17-11, 7-3 AE) emerge on top, 27-25, Binghamton only scored 14 points in the second. The Bearcats would finish the second stanza with a -.115 hitting percentage before falling, 25-14.
“Stony Brook has a really strong team, especially their offense,” BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama said. “They served well against us, which made it tough for us to run our offense.”
The Bearcats showed resiliency in the third set to avoid a sweep. Trailing by a point, 24-23, BU squeaked out the win on two kills from freshman middle hitter Alexis LaGoy.
“I thought we fought well throughout the match,” Kiriyama said. “We didn’t give up at any time. They were very scrappy on defense and kept a lot of plays alive for an extended time.”
With the Bearcats behind by one early in the fourth set, the Seawolves responded with a 12-6 run to seal BU’s fate. The Bearcats called two timeouts in an attempt to overturn the momentum, but eventually lost the set, 25-17, and the match, 3-1.
History repeated itself Sunday when the Bearcats fell to the Hawks for the second time this season in a marathon of a five-set match. Binghamton would squander a 2-1 set lead as the Hawks rode their 500-fan home crowd advantage on Senior Day.
“They just need to keep competing just like they did in the first sets,” Kiriyama said. “Sometimes it’s just the way the ball falls, a couple points here and there. We need to battle a little bit harder, more consistently throughout the match.”
BU had opportunities to close out Hartford in the fourth set but came up short. The Bearcats first had the Hawks on the ropes with match point after a Hartford attack error at 25-24, and again at 27-26. Hartford ultimately prevailed in the fourth set with back-to-back terminations by conference kills leader and senior outside hitter Sareeta Nethersole.
The Bearcats played the deciding fifth set from behind, failing to hold a lead after the third point. They staved off match point twice to keep the game alive, 14-13, before the Hawks took the set, 15-13, to defeat BU.
LaGoy led the Bearcats’ attack with a stellar performance, tallying a season-high 18 kills and a .485 hitting percentage.
“Having a middle hitter that can convert like that spreads out the block on the other side, and actually helps the other hitters on the team especially when she’s going well,” Kiriyama said.
Senior setter Amanda Dettman recorded her seventh-straight double-double (53 assists, 17 digs) while adding nine kills.
Binghamton will finish the season on the road against UMBC. A win will clinch a playoff berth for BU, while a loss could introduce potential for a tiebreaker scenario. If this is the case, then the last playoff spot will be determined by head-to-head records.
BU and UMBC are set to face off Friday at RAC Arena. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.