What looked like a tough break last Tuesday tumbled into tragedy this past weekend for the Bearcats, who returned home winless from the Villanova Classic volleyball tournament. The five consecutive losses this past week dropped the team from second to sixth overall in the America East.
‘It didn’t look pretty up there,’ said coach Glenn Kiriyama about his team’s performance against William and Mary, Villanova, Princeton and Liberty. ‘The four teams were all similar in strength. We just [did not] play well enough.’
Kiriyama believes that although the weekend did not go according to plan, the Bearcats did show improvement after their home opener against Syracuse, especially in terms of serving and receiving. The coach emphasized that the concept of serve-receive makes all the difference.
‘When [a player] does not get the ball to the setter, it makes it a lot easier for the opponents to block [the] attack,’ he explained. Kiriyama cited back-row digging as another issue as conference play quickly approaches.
The Bearcats opened the Villanova Classic with a sweep at the hands of William and Mary (4-8). After being outplayed in the first game, the second set looked a bit more promising for Binghamton at first as they took an 18-12 lead, but W&M struck back with six unanswered points, after which they never looked back.
Junior Ashley Allen and freshman Michelle Mcdonough combined for 23 kills in the game, while senior Jaclyn Strader, the America East digs leader, placed a match high of 19 digs.
The Bearcats’ struggles continued as they were swept by the host Villanova Wildcats (8-4). The ‘catfight’ ensued for less than two hours before the host team handily swept BU, 30-19, 30-20 and 30-18. Alona Cherkez of the Wildcats recorded a double-double in the game with 15 kills and 12 digs. She was also named Big East Player of the Week and ranks top 10 in the nation in kills per game.
Day two of the Classic was a bit better than the previous day, but the results were the same as the Bearcats dropped another pair of matches. The Bearcats took on Princeton (5-3) and fought hard to win their first set of the tournament, 30-28. But the Tigers would come back with three straight wins (30-16, 30-21, 30-20), closing the match 3-1. Heavy-hitters Sheena Donohue and Parker Henritze of the Tigers had 17 kills apiece, while Jenny McReynolds had a match-best 31 digs.
The Bearcats fought hard in their last match of the disappointing tournament against Liberty. Despite a strong performance from senior Jacki Kane, including a kill to win the second set, 30-28, Liberty took the match 3-1. Sophomore setter Kallie Corbin of the Flames pulled off a triple-double in the match with 10 kills, 25 digs and 44 assists.
At the end of the day, Allen had a combined 21 kills while freshman Ashley Mueller scored 35 digs and 82 assists in the two matches.
Liberty, Princeton and Villanova each finished the tournament with 3-1 marks. The trio was followed by William and Mary at 1-3, leaving the Bearcats a disappointing 0-4.
Next up for the Bearcats is the Blackbird Invitational in Brooklyn, beginning Friday, where they will face Yale, LIU and Towson.
‘ Chris Strub contributed to this article