A combination of conference play and playing at home proved to be the perfect ingredients for victory.
Over the weekend, Binghamton University’s women’s volleyball team defeated America East Conference opponents Maine and New Hampshire.
The wins put the Bearcats (9-11) at a perfect 4-0 in conference play so far this season. The team seems to have hit its stride as it rides its five-game winning streak, its longest of the year.
“Well they’ve started out conference really strong, and I think their confidence level is high right now,” said BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama. “They go into each match thinking that they’re going to win. They’ve got a good mental state right now and we just want to build on that and hopefully play a little better as weeks go by.”
The weekend began Friday night against the University of Maine Black Bears (7-10, 0-3). With the two teams posting similar records going in, they seemed destined to play a close match. However, BU made it clear from the start that that would not be the case. They shot ahead to take the first set 25-14, setting the pace for a match that was not particularly close.
BU won the next two sets 25-16 and 15-19 to close out the match. The Bearcats posted a hitting percentage of .303, while forcing the Bears into 21 errors. Kiriyama was pleased with his team’s performance.
“I thought it was probably one of our best all-around matches that we’ve played,” he said. “We passed well and executed well on offense and hit for a really good percentage. Our defense did a good job also, in particular the blocking.”
Coming off a solid performance, the Bearcats looked to beat the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (3-16, 0-3). However, it was the Wildcats who came out on top in the first set, 25-18, holding the Bearcats to a .000 hitting percentage. It was a surprising result, considering BU’s performance at home in conference play leading into the match and the Wildcats’ overall record.
“New Hampshire’s a tough opponent,” Kiriyama said. “Once they get momentum they’re a really emotional team and once they get going they’re hard to stop. They’ve got some good athletes on that team. It was just a matter of us not executing on a few plays there and just letting them gain momentum and then trying to stop them.”
Things seemed to be turning from bad to worse in the second set, with New Hampshire taking a 17-13 advantage. However, Binghamton rallied back and was able to hold off the Wildcats to win the game 25-21. In the third set the Wildcats went up again, this time 16-13, but again BU battled back to take the set, 25-21.
This set up a potentially match-clinching fourth set for Binghamton, who took advantage of the opportunity by going ahead 19-12. The Wildcats, though, proved once again to be a challenge for BU, battling back to tie the set at 20. Unfortunately for New Hampshire, they could not sustain that momentum and gave up the set 25-22.
“It was tough at first, but I was proud of the way they came back the last three games,” Kiriyama said. “I thought we picked up with the offense when we needed to and had some nice sequences there where everything flipped. We had some good performances from our outside hitters and from our defense.”
The weekend matches marked the end of a five-game home stand for the Bearcats. As Kiriyama explained, the team enjoyed “playing in familiar surroundings and having the fans on their side.”
The upcoming schedule will not be as kind to BU, as the team will have to travel to Albany for a conference matchup Friday night at 7 p.m. The Great Danes (11-9) are also 4-0 in conference play, having beaten the same teams that BU has. Binghamton will then play at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County against a very good Retrievers team (14-6, 4-0). Kiriyama was sure not to get too caught up in the hype.
“Against them we just have to worry about our side of the net and try and execute as best we can every point. If they could stay focused on that I think we’ll do well out there,” he said.