On Sept. 24, the Binghamton University women’s volleyball team had a 4-11 record and was looking at a potentially very disappointing year. Now, a month later, after yet another strong weekend, the Bearcats have solidified their turnaround with a berth in the America East Tournament.
BU swept both the Hartford Hawks and the Stony Brook Seawolves over the weekend. This, in combination with a UMBC win over New Hampshire, clinched a playoff spot for the Bearcats (13-12, 7-1) for the fifth straight year. Having won nine of their last 10, this also marks the first time this squad has been above .500 since they were 2-1 on Aug. 30.
“It means a lot to us,” said Binghamton head coach Glenn Kiriyama. “We’ve been to it the last four years, so definitely it was our goal to get back this year. We knew it would be tough, but we’ve played well and I think the girls are very deserving of it.”
The important weekend began on Friday at Hartford (6-21, 0-8). The Bearcats set the tone early, going on a 10-2 run to easily take the first set, 25-15. BU was fueled by the performance of America East Player of the Week Michelle McDonough. The sophomore, who has won the award twice this season, put up seven of her match-high 18 kills in that first set.
The Hawks played much better in the second set, and seemed poised to take it with a 19-16 lead. However, with the same fight they have shown all season, Binghamton came storming back with a 9-2 run to win 25-21. The third set, like the first, was not close as Binghamton took the match with a 25-16 win.
“I thought Michelle McDonough had a great match,” Kiriyama said. “She hit well; they just could not stop her. It’s like she hit harder and harder as the match went on.”
Riding this wave of momentum, the Bearcats went into Stony Brook (11-15, 2-6). They were tested early, going down 5-0 in the first set. BU bounced back, however, and kept the match tight. With the game tied at 22, Binghamton scored two to make it 24-22. Stony Brook came back to tie it at 24, but with the help of a kill from sophomore Anna Lejina, the Bearcats went on to take the set 26-24.
“They had confidence, so they could come back,” Kiriyama said. “They settled down once they scored one or two points and sort of whittled away at it pretty quickly.”
Stony Brook came out ahead early again, taking a 6-1 lead in the second set. But again, BU came back, eventually tying the set at 15 before going on a run to take it 25-18. The third set was tight, but Binghamton was able to hold out to take the match 25-20.
McDonough, who averaged five kills per set last week, was not the only Binghamton player whose play was recognized. Sophomore Lindsey Mueller was awarded her third Setter of the Week award, having put up at least 34 assists and seven digs each match.
While Kiriyama feels that his players have done a “good job,” especially in coming back from a difficult start to the season, he still feels the team is not playing to its potential.
“We’ve got to play better, right now,” he said. “We managed to get through the weekend without losing any games, but I didn’t think we played particularly well. We had one or two individuals each match or each game that played well. We need to get everyone together and we just need to up our level of play just a little bit and hopefully finish strong here.”
With a playoff spot clinched, Kiriyama said that the team is still playing hard for a high seed. Having finished this road trip, the Bearcats will play at home against UMBC on Friday at 6 p.m. This is followed by an important but difficult match against first-place Albany (17-8, 9-0), a team that is currently on an 11-game winning streak.