The Binghamton volleyball team continued its strong home-court advantage with two pivotal conference victories in Vestal this weekend. On Friday night, the Bearcats (10-14, 7-4 America East) defeated Hartford, 3-1, and on Sunday afternoon, they took down UMBC, 3-1. With these victories, BU has now won four consecutive matches.
“I thought we’ve handled the ball better on our side, and our middles have been a mainstay for us, both blocking and hitting,” said BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama.
Following their wins in the previous week, Binghamton junior outside hitter Erin Shultz was named AE Player of the Week, marking her first time receiving the award, and senior setter Sarah Ngo was awarded AE Setter of the Week for the seventh time in her career.
In Friday’s match, the Bearcats overpowered Hartford (5-19, 2-8 AE). BU began the first set with a 4-0 run, and never looked back. With its lead extended to 16-6 after a 7-0 run, the Hawks began to rally, with the deficit being as low as three points. Their efforts fell short, however, as the Bearcats won 25-19.
The second set was similar to the first. After exchanging the first two serves, Binghamton took over with an 11-2 stretch and continued to dominate. A 7-1 run by Binghamton to finish the frame gave the Bearcats a 25-16 victory, and a 2-0 edge in the match.
Hartford performed its best in the third set, taking its first lead of the evening with a 2-0 start. Later in the frame, trailing 17-14, the Hawks went on a 6-0 run to earn a 20-17 advantage, and finished out the frame with a 5-3 run, good enough to capture the set 25-20 and stay alive in the match.
The fourth set was controlled primarily by the Bearcats, who started the frame on a 10-3 margin and continued to apply pressure to take a commanding 22-6 lead. They went on to win the set 25-11 and the match in a strong fashion.
Sunday’s match against UMBC (13-11, 5-5 AE), which marked Senior Day for the Bearcats, honored seniors middle hitter Kristella Morina, middle hitter Lexi LaGoy and Ngo for their contributions to the program.
The first sequence was contested, with UMBC starting the frame with a 3-1 lead, but the Bearcats went on a 3-0 run to take a 4-3 lead. From then on, the Retrievers played from behind, with the Bearcats coming out on top, 25-22. The second set began similarly, but a 6-1 run by UMBC to close out the set earned a 25-23 victory for the Retrievers.
“Our team knew they had to pick it up, and after that second set we had to communicate a lot better on the court and put in a lot more effort,” Kiriyama said.
The final two sequences were dominated by Binghamton, which started the third frame with a 5-1 run, and went on to win 25-15. The fourth set began with a 7-0 run by the Bearcats, and finished with Binghamton winning the set 25-12, and the match 3-1. UMBC failed to gain the lead for the entirety of the final two sets.
With the season nearing its end, the 2017 AE Championship is looming for the Bearcats. Of the seven schools in the conference, the top four will compete for an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. Albany has already locked up the No. 1 seed and the right to host the championship. Binghamton is currently in a battle for the remaining three spots with Stony Brook and UMBC, but Kiriyama is not thinking about the playoffs just yet.
“We’re just focused on the last game here, against Stony Brook,” Kiriyama said. “We want to do well there, and that’s our main focus for the week. Hopefully we’ll make the conference tournament.”
Binghamton will play its final regular-season match at Stony Brook this Sunday. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. from the Pritchard Gymnasium in Stony Brook, New York.