Emily Earl/Assistant Photography Editor Despite a promising start, the Binghamton women’s volleyball team fell short against Albany in its America East opener, losing in five sets.
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Despite a promising start, the Binghamton women’s volleyball team fell short against Albany in its America East opener, losing in five sets.

Fired up by a record-setting crowd of 577 people, Binghamton (3-12, 0-1 AE) came out ready and full of hustle. Despite highly competitive play from both sides, Albany (6-7, 1-0) found itself up 10-6 in the first set, until consecutive errors let BU back in, 10-8. In the following possessions, sophomore setter Sarah Ngo found freshman outside hitter Gabby Alicea for successive kills to tie the game at 10.

Undeterred by the change of momentum, Albany responded and regained the lead, ultimately going up, 19-16. Yet again, consecutive Albany errors brought the Bearcats within one point, when Ngo set Alicea up for the tying point at 19. Albany regained its lead to improve to 20-19, until consecutive kills by junior middle hitter Bianca Anderson and sophomore middle hitter Kristella Morina put BU up, 21-20. The Great Danes rallied back for the next point, but an Alicea kill improved BU’s lead to 23-22. An Albany kill tied the game back up at 23, before senior right-side hitter Megan Burgess set Alicea for a kill and a 24-23 lead. On the following play, Morina and Burgess teamed up for a block to secure the first set victory, 25-23.

After an exhausting loss in the first set, Albany jumped out to an early second-set lead. This lead was soon compromised, however, as the Bearcats started to make key plays. After going up 10-7, BU found themselves tied at 14, despite a steady flow of sets from Ngo.

Following the tie at 14, Anderson scored consecutive points, and Ngo found Burgess for a kill, resulting in an Albany timeout. On the ensuing point, the Bearcats improved their lead to 19-14, on a Ngo-Anderson connection. The Danes cut the lead to 19-15, but Burgess answered with another kill. Junior libero Bailey Walker connected on a set to freshman setter Kaelan Haag, resulting in a kill and a 23-16 lead. Haag went on to score the next point, and Burgess followed with an ace to cap the set and improve to a 2-0 match lead.

Although the Bearcats had a dominant start, the Great Danes responded with wins in the third and fourth set, 25-19 and 25-18 respectively. After falling behind early in the fifth set, Binghamton struggled to get its offense going, and a 9-6 Albany lead soon became 12-6. After a hard-fought battle between the teams, the Great Danes walked away victorious, with a 15-12 decision to take the match, 3-2.

Even though the five-set match resulted in a loss, BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama noted many positives in his players’ performance.

“We knew it was going to be high-intensity,” Kiriyama said. “They came out and responded well, but we weren’t very consistent, and that’s something we have to work on.”

Kiriyama also acknowledged that the age and inexperience of the team may have had a role in the outcome of the game.

“[The freshmen] didn’t have any experience in conference and it’s another beast,” Kiriyama said. “They just have to learn and deal with it.”

Despite their inexperience, the underclassmen performed comparably to the upperclassmen in Friday’s match. Alicea and Burgess contributed 16 kills each, while Sarah Ngo dominated with 49 total assists. Walker added 26 digs for the Bearcats.

BU is set to return to action on Friday at home against Hartford. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the West Gym in Vestal, New York.