The Ohio University Bobcats and University of Pittsburgh Panthers proved they were the better two of the three fighting felines this past weekend as they both swept the Binghamton University women’s volleyball team in the Pitt Classic this past weekend.

However, BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama and his squad did not leave the Steel City empty-handed as they swept the Eastern Kentucky University Colonels in a three-game exploit.

“We played pretty well, I thought, overall,” Kiriyama said. “We struggled at times, especially in the first couple of matches, but we played hard throughout and we had a nice match to finish off.”

The Bearcats (3-3) put up a strong fight in the first two games in its first matchup against Ohio. Binghamton dominated for much of the first set before the Bobcats evened the score 18-18 and then went on a 7-4 tear to defeat the Bearcats 25-22.

The Bearcats chased Ohio all throughout game two, but the team could not seem to close in on the team and ended up losing the set 25-20.

It was in game three that the Bearcats seemed to have finally lost their grip. With the exception of a service error by Bobcat McKenzie Mauck and then an attack error by her teammate, Sue Jacobi, Binghamton claimed no consecutive plays. Meanwhile, Ohio dominated the field going on huge tears including one nine-point run and two five-point runs. The Bearcats dropped the last game 25-8, which gave the entire match to Ohio.

“Everything went wrong,” said Kiriyama. “We really didn’t execute well on offense on any level whether it came to passing, hitting or serving. I mean, we just made errors on every category that just added to the blowout.”

The Bearcats went into the second match only to be swept again this time by host Pittsburgh (25-16, 25-23, 25-21). Binghamton tried to hold its ground with a 21-20 lead in the last game, but a five-point Panther run snatched the victory from their grasp. Binghamton sophomore Anna Leijina had the game-high with nine kills while sophomore Lindsey Mueller posted her first double-double of the season with 18 digs and 12 assists.

After being swept for the last two matches the previous Friday, it was finally time for the Bearcats to have their own victory by defeating Eastern Kentucky (1-5) in three straight games (25-17, 25-14, 25-14).

“I thought we had a really nice sweep match against Eastern Kentucky,” said Kiriyamma. “In each of the games we worked hard to get a lead and stayed real strong in the opening of the games in the match.”

Binghamton outshot Eastern Kentucky .348 to .035 in the match and had an 11-2 blocking advantage. While the Colonels placed 23 kills and 22 assists, the Bearcats nearly doubled their stats with 40 kills and 38 assists. Leijina again posted a game high in kills (10) and had a .400 hitting percentage while Mueller also stole the show with a total of nine digs and 33 assists. Sophomore Michelle McDonough also shined brightly with nine kills.

Lejina continues to stay atop of the team statistics after putting up a total of 23 kills in the Classic. Meanwhile, Mueller’s efforts earned her a spot on the all-tournament team.

“Mueller … did a nice job of just hustling all over the court and making some nice sets,” Kiriyama said. “She made it possible for our hitters to make points [and] was the key ingredient for this weekend for just keeping us in these matches.

The Bearcats learned a lot about themselves as a team this weekend and what they needed to do in order to win despite a few setbacks.

“They’re figuring out what they need to do in order to win,” Kiriyama said. “Some of the games were pretty close, and it came down to a couple of points here and there. It’s the small things that are important. We are still trying to work on the lineup and we’ve got a lot of areas to improve on.

The Bearcats head north today to play against Syracuse at 7 p.m. The Orange (2-4) will attempt to notch their third win of the season.

“It’s hard to say,” Kiriyaa said. “Syracuse is one of those teams that we’ve never really played well against in the past. I guess we’ve had some good matches against them, but lately they’ve become a really tough team. We’re hoping to have a good battle [tonight].”