It seemed as if the pilgrimage back to Binghamton lifted the dry spell off coach Glenn Kiriyama’s volleyball squad. After a successful weekend the Bearcats kept rolling, defeating the Colgate Raiders 3-0. The third straight victory brings BU’s record to 9-12 and keeps them tied for first in the America East conference.

The first two games against Colgate were a piece of cake for the Bearcats. Binghamton jumped to a 7-2 lead in the first game and led the whole way for a 30-27 victory. Game two mirrored the first game as BU overpowered the Red Raiders without fault and ended in a 30-25 win.

Game three gave Binghamton the most trouble with nine ties and three lead changes. The Bearcats blew a 16-10 lead as the Raiders rampaged on through, scoring six straight points to tie the game and eventually pulled ahead 18-17. The two teams continued to go head to head, however, the Bearcats went on a 6-3 run against the Raiders, pulling out a 30-27 win and completing the sweep.

Not only did the team come away victorious, but the team also set a new season high of 17 blocks. Junior Ashley Allen contributed her personal career best with 10 blocks and added eight kills. Senior Kathleen Schauer brought down the house with 11 kills to lead the team. Middle blockers Jacki Kane and Dawn Lammert added 10 kills apiece.

Kane and Lammert played a pivotal role in being the force field, blocking balls right and left.

‘Our middles really dominated play at the net,’ Kiriyama said. ‘The play of our middle made a huge difference throughout the match.’

Freshman star Lindsey Mueller placed 35 assists and seven digs while junior Jaclyn Strader claimed a team high 19 digs.

In total, the Bearcats only committed 17 errors, having no more than eight a game while the Raiders had 30. Colgate, however, led the matches in digs (67-56) as well as kills (44-41). Raider Katrina Zawojski donned the game high 13 kills.

The Bearcats will have their skills put to the test again as they play two conference games this weekend at Hartford (0-1 AE) and Stony Brook (0-1 AE). Hartford struggled throughout the preseason and were swept by Albany in their AE opener Saturday. Stony Brook lost a tough match 3-2 to Albany on Friday.

The Bearcats return home Tuesday to take on Cornell at the West Gym.