The Bearcats are coming soon to the West Gym near you! The women’s volleyball team (6-4) takes center stage tonight to defend its home court for the first time this season against Syracuse (7-4). After winning the Golden Flash Invitational on Saturday, the Bearcats have a total of six victories so far this season and said they are looking forward to playing on their own turf for a change.

‘We are all excited to play back at Binghamton,’ said head coach Glenn Kiriyama. ‘It’s been a while since [we have played] at home, and it will be nice just to show the fans what we can do.’

The Bearcats play just nine games at home this season, six of which will be conference matches.

With an impressive roster, the Orange have won their last four games and rank sixth out of 15 schools in the Big East. Although they are 0-2 in their away games, they hold a 5-0 home record.

The Bearcats will have to keep an eye out for senior Joscie Kaup from Fort Recovery, Ohio, already Syracuse’s all-time digs leader and the Big East Conference Player of the Week. Yet another formidable SU player is senior Cheryl Cobbina, who averages 4.00 kills per game, the sixth best mark in the Big East.

But Binghamton has its own threats. Senior Jacki Kane is on top of the charts in the America East Conference for blocking, followed by sophomore Dawn Lammert. Junior Jaclyn Strader has a decent record of service aces and also leads the AE with the most digs, while senior Lindsay Mueller plays a masterful average of about 10 assists per game and comes in fifth overall for digs in the conference.

Currently the Bearcats rank second overall in the America East conference behind UMBC (7-1). Kiriyama expects ‘defense to continue to do well in blocking and digging.’

The next time the Bearcats will play at home will be to kick off their first conference game against New Hampshire on Sept. 28. The team will be in Villanova, Penn., for the Villanova Classic this Friday.

Last season the Bearcats triumphed in seven of their eight home games. They can continue that strong play starting tonight at 7 p.m. in the West Gym.