In what is sure to be a thrilling match, the Binghamton University’s women’s volleyball team will venture deep into enemy territory tonight to take on University at Albany.

This match is important for a few reasons. First, Albany is our biggest sports rival. Even though our basketball team was abysmal last year, students from all over campus circled the Albany game on their calendars and packed our stadium so we could loudly heckle and harass the Great Danes. If you have Bearcat blood running through your veins, the fact that we’re playing this team should be enough to get it boiling.

As if that’s not enough, Albany and Binghamton sit right next to each other in the conference standings. Binghamton is currently 2-1 in the America East and 5-13 overall. Albany is 2-0 America East and 5-10 overall. Both teams are going into the match with some form of momentum: Binghamton has won three of its past four matches while Albany has a two-game winning streak. If the Bearcats win tonight, they will have a better conference record than Albany and will be only one game back in the overall record.

This will be the first time the teams have met all year and it will be used as something of a measuring stick. This is the time of year when the volleyball schedule really picks up, and if Binghamton has plans to make some noise late in the season, winning this game is certainly part of its plan.

As for the game itself, expect Binghamton to dominate above the net. BU has accumulated 847 kills to Albany’s 532, and each team’s blocks per set count is about even. Last year in the NBA, the Los Angeles Clippers nicknamed themselves ‘Lob City’ because assist-machine Chris Paul has a great ability to set up high flyers Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan for vicious slam dunks and eye-popping alley-oops. The Bearcats have their own version of ‘Lob City’ with the three-headed monster that is sophomore setter Amanda Dettmann, senior outside hitter Iva Partaleva and sophomore outside hitter Kristin Hovie.

Let’s start this with a breakdown of Dettmann. She currently has 667 assists, which is 185 more than the entire UAlbany team. Read that sentence again. She has 38% more assists than every Lady Dane combined. It reminds me of those awe-inspiring Babe Ruth stats, like when in 1920 there was only one team who amassed more home runs than the great Babe.

I’m not calling Dettmann the Sultan of Swat quite yet, but it’s still pretty impressive. Throw in her above-average ability to kill, serve and dig and we’re looking at a great table setter with no glaring weaknesses.

As you might have guessed, the two primary recipients of all these sets are twin towers Partaleva and Hovie. These two make Binghamton the only team in the entire conference that has two players with at least 200 kills each this season. The ability to vary from where your attacks are coming can only improve your team’s effectiveness.

This is an important game against a perennial rival. Although attending the game is unlikely and unrealistic for most of you, you can show your support in other ways. If you see any of the players around campus, be sure to wish them luck. And make sure to raise your glass to the volleyball team when you’re inevitably drinking tonight, because while you’re enjoying yourself on State Street, the Bearcats will be entering a hostile environment to represent this big, beautiful school we know and love.