With just a handful of games remaining in regular season play, the Binghamton University volleyball team topped Providence College in four sets on Friday to keep its playoff hopes alive.
With the win over the Friars (8-19, 2-7 America East), the Bearcats (12-16, 4-6 AE) now sit in fifth place in the conference standings behind University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
The Bearcats got off to a slow start on Friday, dropping the opening set of their match against the last-place Friars, 25-19. But BU quickly picked up speed, battling back to tie the second set at 15 with a kill from senior Julie Chambers. The Bearcats were able to pull ahead with a 4-1 run, highlighted by kills from freshman outside hitter Kristin Hovie and classmate Amanda Dettmann to make the score 19-16. Providence proved unable to recover, and the Bearcats took the set, 25-20.
Binghamton head coach Glenn Kiriyama commended the second-set performance of Hovie, who was named last week’s America East Rookie of the Week and led the Bearcats with 15 kills on Friday.
“Kristin Hovie, in the second [set], started picking up her game and she really carried us in that second game there,” he said.
With the match tied at one game apiece, the Friars jumped ahead to a quick 13-7 lead. Two kills from junior middle blocker Alex Roland worked to cut the Bearcats’ deficit to three, but Providence quickly stretched its lead back to five, pulling ahead 22-17. Binghamton battled to tie the score once again, notching five straight points on the strength of two more kills from Hovie. Following three more ties, the Bearcats finally managed to seal the win, taking the set, 27-25.
The fourth set proved to be another tight one. With the score tied at 12, kills from freshman outside hitter Annelot Nieuwenhuis and sophomore middle hitter Grace Vickers pushed the Bearcats ahead, and they wouldn’t look back for the remainder of the set, which BU took 25-23, and the match 4-1.
“I thought our team fought well,” Kiriyama said. “A couple of games [were] pretty close, especially the third and fourth game … We were behind a little bit in a couple of [games] that we won and it was good to see them execute well down the stretch.”
Dettmann led the team in assists with 41 while collecting 11 digs and five kills.
Vickers and Roland added eight and 14 kills, respectively, while sophomore libero Xiomara Ortiz and freshman Emily Litwin anchored the defense, recording 24 and 19 digs.
In need of at least a fourth-place finish to advance to their eighth straight postseason, the Bearcats have two matches left on their regular-season schedule. Those matches will come this weekend as they set to take on University of Hartford and University of New Hampshire.
The Bearcats fell to Hartford in five sets when they met for the first time this season two weeks ago. The Hawks are currently in sixth place in the conference, but sit only one match behind Binghamton.
When the Bearcats faced off against UNH in mid-October, BU knocked off the now second-place Wildcats, 3-1.
Both matches were hard-fought, and Kiriyama acknowledged the challenges that lie ahead for BU, but asserted that his team is prepared and confident heading into the weekend.
“I think our confidence level is good right now,” Kiriyama said. “These games are home, [the team is] comfortable playing here, and I think they’re looking forward to ending the regular season on a good note at home.”
BU currently boasts an even 2-2 home record this season in conference play.
The match against Hartford is set to kick off at 7 p.m. Friday at the West Gym. The Bearcats’ regular season finale against UNH is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.