For the Binghamton University women’s volleyball on Friday, it’s all about either climbing out of or falling into “the Pitt.”
BU (2-1) will make its way down to Pittsburgh for the Pitt Classic this Friday to face an arduous trio composed of Ohio (0-3), Pittsburgh (1-2) and Eastern Kentucky (1-2).
The Bearcats plan to just center in on their own game rather than worry about the integrity and talent of teams they face.
“I think we just have to focus on what we are doing on our side of the net and not be intimidated by anything going on the other side,” said head coach Glenn Kiriyama. “We just have to be able to handle the ball well on our side … and if we can do [that], we will be okay.”
Ohio was ranked as high as 15th in the nation last season, with a 26-6 record where their exploits earned them a bid at the NCAA tournament. The Bobcats are coming off the Hawaiian Airlines Volleyball Classic, where they dropped all three matches against the top schools in the nation including No. 1 ranked Penn State, No. 6 UCLA and No. 12 Hawaii. Although the team is winless so far this season, Ohio will be a force to be reckoned with by Binghamton. Bobcat junior Ellen Herman leads the offense with 3.67 kills and 1.78 digs a game while sophomore Michelle Jantsch gathers six assists a game.
Posting a 5-25 record last season, Eastern Kentucky started its season at the South Florida Invitational. The Colonels defeated Grambling State in a five-game exploit, but were brought down by host South Florida and former America East team Northeastern. The Colonels come into their second invitational with top offensive players junior Lindsey Lochner and freshman Hannah Groudle averaging 2.73 and 1.73 kills per game respectively.
Host Pittsburgh, of the Big East, was 15-16 last season. The Panthers went 1-2 at the Kentucky Classic last weekend defeating Western Carolina but losing to Wisconsin and host Kentucky. The Bearcats will have to watch out for sophomore Amy Town, who posts 3.58 kills per game. Town is one of four players who hits above the 2.00 mark in kills while junior defensive machine, Michelle Rossi averages 4.25 digs per game.
The Bearcats know that they will have to bolster up both their defense and offense if they want to come out victorious, so they are working on improving all their skills.
“We continue to just work on just about every phase of the game,” Kiriyama said. “We always emphasize serve, receive, and we need quite a bit of work on blocking, but those things take some time.”
The Bearcats star sophomore Anna Lejina who posted 3.78 kills per game with a .353 hitting percentage and a total of 14 digs in the NAU invitational. Sophomore Lindsey Mueller leads the team in digs (20) while outside hitters sophomore Michelle McDonough and senior Brianna Strong each put up 16 digs apiece.
As far as knowing how the Bearcats will fare in the Pitt Classic, Kiriyama says that it is really tough to compare.
“We just have to really focus on what we are doing and try and improve on last week’s performance and keep going in the right direction. I know that these teams are a lot tougher, so we’re not sure to expect,” Kiriyama said. “There are a lot of unknowns, but we are looking forward to the competition to see where we stand against these teams.”