The Binghamton University women’s volleyball team went into a pivotal weekend and came out with a win, but not the decisive blowout they hoped for.
The Bearcats split the weekend, beating UMBC and losing to first-place Albany.
Binghamton (14-13) is now 8-2 in conference play, with both losses coming against the Great Danes. The weekend also clarified their playoff position, as Binghamton is now assured the No. 2 seed in the America East tournament.
“I thought we played hard; I didn’t think we played too bad,” said BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama.
The weekend began on Friday with Senior Night, when seniors Jaclyn Strader, Ashley Allen and Katie Thomas were all honored.
This was followed by the match against UMBC (16-11, 5-5 AE). The game against a solid Retrievers team started out with a battle, as the teams entered a 26-26 tie in the first set. The Bearcats came out on top, finally taking the set 28-26.
The game set the pace for the match, which would prove to be a struggle between the two teams. BU was unable to hold onto the momentum in the second set, handing it over 25-20. UMBC hit .310 in the set. Binghamton reversed that trend in the critical third set, holding UMBC to .083 en route to a 25-20 win. In the final set, BU rallied ahead 24-18, then held on 25-23 to win the match.
“I thought our passing picked up as the match went on,” Kiriyama said. “I thought our blocking was good at the right times. It was pretty consistent throughout the match, but especially at the end of a couple of games. Our serving, I thought we had a couple of nice streaks that gave us the lead and gave us some confidence.”
Reigning America East Player of the Week Michelle McDonough had 22 kills, the most in her career. Fellow sophomore Anna Lejina added 19 kills. Freshman Alyssa Lang led the Retrievers with 16.
Riding the momentum of winning 10 of their last 11 matches, the Bearcats hosted first-place Albany in the team’s last home game of the year. The Great Danes (18-8, 10-0 AE) were not only undefeated in conference play, having already beaten the Bearcats once at home, but were also riding an 11-game winning streak. A Bearcats win would make them tied for first in the conference.
However, the Bearcats did not come out with a playoff-caliber performance. The team was dominated, losing 25-10. The Bearcats hit .000 while allowing the Great Danes to hit .440.
“It was a combination of a lot of things,” Kiriyama said. “I thought we were a bit tentative coming out, I’m not sure why. We regrouped well. It’s just a matter of doing all the small things, and just working together as a team … It was just a matter of everything, everything from passing to defense to blocking, not really working out for us.”
After suffering the first loss, the Bearcats showed some resilience, making it clear that the first set was an aberration and they wouldn’t go down without a fight. Despite falling behind 10-5 and 24-23, BU was able to pull ahead to win, 26-24.
Unfortunately for Binghamton, it would be the only set of the match that they would win, losing the final two, 25-21 and 25-17. However, the sets were much closer than the final score would indicate, as Albany used late rallies to win, a fact that was not lost on Kiriyama.
“I was happy with the way we came back,” he said. “The effort was good, especially in the last three games. Overall, it was a decent effort there.”
With the win, Albany clinched first place in the conference and will host the America East tournament, which begins Nov. 21.
BU has two final regular season games on the road, Friday at Maine (13-12, 6-5) and Saturday at New Hampshire (7-20, 4-7). While the Bearcats have a lock on the No. 2 seed, they will play hard in this final weekend of regular-season play.
“These games are important,” Kiriyama said. “Maine is still fighting for a particular seed, either third or fourth. If we have to play them again, we want to make sure that we play them well this time, so that we get more confidence … We just hope that we can … keep up the energy level and the drive to finish strong here in this last weekend, and hopefully carry that over to the conference tournament.”