After clinching the No. 4 seed in the America East championship following its loss to Bryant last Friday, the Binghamton volleyball team closed out its regular season with a sweep of visiting UNH. Despite claiming the No. 4 slot in the championship, the victory over UNH moved the Bearcats to 6-4 in conference play, just one match behind co-regular season title holders Bryant and UMBC.

“We played really well as a team,” wrote Binghamton head coach Allie Yaeger. “We won the serve and pass game and our hitters were patient with their shots. As the season continues to move forward, I truly believe that we continue to look better and Friday night’s performance proved it.”

Binghamton (12-13, 6-4 AE) and UNH (9-14, 3-7 AE) traded points to open the first set, but an early 4-4 draw was broken by the Bearcats when a 5-0 run saw them take an early 9-4 lead. The Wildcats battled back throughout but were unable to cut their deficit to less than two in a set in which Binghamton never once trailed. It closed out with a 6-2 run to claim a 25-18 victory, all the while hitting a match-best .395 in the first set.

The Bearcats carried their momentum into set two, jumping out to a 3-0 lead following a pair of Wildcat attack errors, but UNH battled back to take a 7-6 lead early on. The foes continued to swap scores, trading the lead with neither squad building more than a two-score advantage, and the set was soon deadlocked at 14-14.

The Bearcats eventually pulled ahead with a 3-0 run thanks to another pair of Wildcat attack errors, before closing out the second set on an 8-1 run to take a 2-0 match lead. Binghamton limited UNH’s hitting to just 0.077 in the set while forcing seven errors.

“Our serving put us over the edge in the second set,” Yaeger wrote. “Our servers were aggressive behind the serving line and we were able to take UNH out of system.”

The final set of the match proved the most competitive of the night. Binghamton quickly found itself trailing 8-5, but the Bearcats reclaimed the lead with a 5-0 run. UNH responded with an equivalent run of its own, and the point trading continued until consecutive BU points gave them an 18-17 lead late.

UNH continued to fight its way through the set, but the Bearcats closed out the set with a 7-3 run, propelled by two kills apiece from senior outside hitter Merima Smajlovic, freshman right side hitter Maya Coblentz-Brown and sophomore right side hitter Viktoria Dimitrova, securing the 25-20 set three victory and the sweep.

“[Smajlovic] is out to prove that she is one of the best six rotation players in this conference, and plays with a chip on her shoulder and she’s fun to watch,” Yaeger wrote. “She’s consistent and didn’t make many errors on Friday night.”

The Bearcats saw three players reach double-digit kills with Smajlovic, Dimitrova and Coblentz-Brown amassing 19, 13 and 11, respectively. Sophomore setter Regan Kadel led the team in assists with 39. As a whole, Binghamton hit .351 with just seven attack errors, while limiting UNH to a .182 hitting percentage on the night.

“Friday night’s game was big because I know the players wanted to prove that we were the better team and I believe we did that,” Yaeger wrote. “It’s great to end regular season on a high note, and on the road. It gives the players confidence going into the most important weekend of the season.”

No. 4 Binghamton will kick off the AE championship with a semifinal matchup against No. 1 UMBC on Friday, Nov. 21. First serve is set for 4 p.m. at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Catonsville, Maryland.