They may not have come out smelling like roses, but the Binghamton University women’s volleyball team was able to salvage one win as it went 1-2 over the weekend.

The Bearcats (4-10) faced a tough slate at the Bowling Green Invitational, with all of their opponents either having winning records or close to winning records going into the tournament. However, the team knew from the start the challenge they would face.

“Going into the Bowling Green tournament, we knew there were going to be tough teams, but we also thought that we would have a chance to beat any of them,” said head coach Glenn Kiriyama.

The Bearcats opened against the host team, Bowling Green State University (10-4), on Friday. The Falcons soared to a 22-14 lead in the first set, but the Bearcats responded with a quick rally to cut it to 22-18. The four-point run would be as far as the Bearcats got as Bowling Green won the set 25-18. The Bearcats were poised to take the second set, jumping out to a 9-5 lead. This time it was the Falcons who fought back and, after remaining neck-and-neck for the entire game, took the set 25-22. It was the most competitive set of the match for the Bearcats, despite hitting a low .070. The third set was tied at 11, but Bowling Green pulled ahead, taking the set and the match, 25-19.

Sophomore Michelle McDonough was the only Bearcat to hit double-digit kills with 11, while Lindsey Mueller led the way with 13 digs. However, they could not overcome Bowling Green’s team effort, with three players recording double-digit kills and senior Chelsey Meek’s match-high 18 digs. As Coach Kiriyama noted, the key in the match was errors.

“In that match, I thought that on our side of the ball we made too many hitting errors,” Kiriyama said. “We out-blocked them and they didn’t get a lot of blocks against us, so a lot of our hitting errors were just our own unforced errors. That adds up.”

The Bearcats faced Hofstra (6-7) the next day, where BU dropped the first set 25-20 to the Pride. However, the Bearcats came back in the second set. Although the Bearcats hit .050, their defense was able to hold Hofstra to a .030 hitting percentage, allowing them to take the set 25-21.

In the third set, the Bearcats overcame an early 10-8 deficit. They dominated 25-25, hitting at a .310 clip to the Pride’s .000. The fourth and final set was the tightest of the match. Tied at 19, the Bearcats needed to make a run to put the game away. Senior and co-captain Jaclyn Strader served up three aces en route to a 25-20 win, putting away a solid victory for Binghamton. Sophomore Anna Lejina was the star of the match, leading all players with 22 kills and a .375 hitting percentage. Strader’s total of four aces and 19 digs were also essential to the win.

“Well, she’s one of our captains and she’s a very competitive person on the court, and I think that rubs off on everyone else,” Kiriyama said. “It helped everyone else play a little bit harder and she’s been the mainstay on the team, and she’s definitely very valuable to it.”

The Bearcats hoped to take their momentum into their afternoon match against the Rice Owls (8-2), but they had trouble holding off Rice throughout the match. BU was tied at 8-8 in the first set and down 16-15 in the second set, but gave up significant runs to the Owls, giving up the sets 25-18 and 25-16, respectively. In the third set, the two teams battled to a 13-13 tie. Rice pulled ahead and won the set 25-21, giving them the victory for both the match and the entire tournament.

Lejina again led the way with 15 kills and hitting with a .343 percentage. Her overall performance earned her a spot on the all-tournament team. Kiriyama feels that all Lejina needs is some more time and confidence.

“She can be a really good hitter at times, and will be hard to stop at times,” he said. “On Saturday she put together two pretty complete matches, which she hasn’t done before. She’s coming along, and I think she’ll be a force to be reckoned with in conference once we start up.”

Binghamton’s next opponent is scheduled to be Siena (2-8) tomorrow at 7 p.m. Siena was ranked No. 1 in the MAAC preseason poll.

“It’s another good test for us,” Kiriyama said. “Siena’s won their conference the last few years, so it’ll be tough. They have a lot of their main players returning, so we’re looking forward to the competition. It’s another measure of where we’re at.”