The last two weeks have been utterly disastrous for Glenn Kiriyama’s volleyball squad. Eight straight losses, with a total of three games won during that stretch, have sent the team spiraling into sixth place in the conference, heading into their long-awaited America East opener on Friday night.

‘We try not to dwell on a lot of those losses, we just try to take from each of them what we can,’ said Kiriyama. ‘We’re trying to improve all aspects of our game.’

After a promising 6-4 start that peaked with a five-set triumph over then-undefeated Kent State, the Bearcats dropped their home opener on Sept. 11, kicking off their current eight-match skid. At the Blackbird Invitational this weekend, BU averaged a pitiful 21.7 points per game, winning just one game in their three losses to Yale, Towson and host Long Island.

Their 30-15 loss in the second game against Yale was the first time BU had failed to record 16 points in a game since their November 2005 first-round NCAA tournament match-up with No. 2 Penn State (15-30, 8-30, 10-30).

Kiriyama, in the midst of his ninth year at BU, couldn’t recall ever weathering such a lengthy losing streak. (All-time losing streak records are not tracked, but previously, the longest volleyball losing streak since Kiriyama was hired was six.)

‘I don’t think we’ve lost this many in a row before,’ he said, ‘[but] I know the strength of schedule has gotten tougher each year.’

While the Bearcats currently lead the AE with 18.56 digs per game, they’ve also allowed the most kills per game, 14.27.

‘We have moments of some great ball and we’ve got a lot of moments of inconsistency,’ Kiriyama said.

A key injury seems to have played a big role in the team’s recent struggles.

NCAA bylaws forbid the coaching staff from discussing the specifics of injuries, but sophomore hitter Brianna Strong’s painful-looking fall two weeks ago against Syracuse has kept her on the sidelines since.

‘Not having [Brianna] play has made things a bit tougher,’ Kiriyama said. ‘She was one of our stronger players all around on the court. Without her available to play ‘ it has put a little more pressure on some of the younger kids.’

‘Bri had a significant role on the team,’ senior middle hitter Jacki Kane said, ‘but we have to bounce back from these losses and injuries and stay positive ‘ there’s a lot of heart and talent on this team.’

In trying times like these, Kiriyama said, the team must look to its seniors ‘ Kane and fellow Colorado native Kathleen Schauer ‘ for guidance.

‘Without their leadership it will be a lot tougher to get out of this hole that we’re in,’ the coach said. ‘We’re going to have to play a lot better than we have the last couple weeks if we want to do damage control.’

The Bearcats will look to turn things around this weekend with a pair of home games against UNH (10-4; Friday at 7 p.m.) and Maine (1-12; Sunday at 10 a.m.).

Check out Pipe Dream on Friday for a full preview of this weekend’s games.