On Tuesday afternoon in the West Gym, the Binghamton volleyball team forced a decisive fifth set for just the second time this season. After tying the match at five, the Bearcats (7-8) allowed Cornell to score three straight, losing its grip on the match and any chance of taking down the Big Red (8-11) in their final nonconference matchup.
Binghamton hit just .166 in the 3-2 loss, compared to the .235 mark put up by Cornell. The offensive shortcomings were due in part to the absence of junior setter Sarah Ngo, who suffered an injury last weekend against UMBC. She leads BU and is fourth in the America East (AE) with 581 assists so far this year. Ngo is expected to return to the lineup on Friday.
The first four sets of Binghamton’s matchup with Cornell mirrored BU’s only other five-set match of the year: a 3-2 victory over UMass Lowell. The Bearcats took the first set in both contests; on Tuesday night they came out on top, 25-21, thanks to impressive kills by freshman outside hitter Lauren Kornmann and two tag-team blocks by senior middle hitter Bianca Anderson and sophomore middle hitter Gaby Alicea.
Just as they had against the River Hawks (0-4) at the beginning of the month, the Bearcats dropped the second and third sets to fall behind the Big Red, 3-1. Cornell dominated both sets, refusing to relinquish the lead even once. The Big Red saw three players reach double digits in kills; sophomore Carla Sganderlla lead the charge with 19 kills.
“Once we got down by that much, we just had to go point by point, ignore the score and try to win the battle of that next point,” said BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama.
This is exactly what the Bearcats did, coming into the fourth set with a vengeance and leading by as many as seven points at times. BU won the set handily, 25-20, thanks largely to the contributions of Kornmann, who recorded 19 kills during the frame and a career-high 20 points on the match.
Heading into the definitive final set, the Bearcats hoped for a repeat of their final frame against UMass Lowell, which they won, 15-10. Two straight service aces from senior defensive specialist Kasey Muchnicki leveled the score at five, but the Big Red took an 8-5 advantage on three straight kills and BU never came within two again. After two consecutive hitting errors by the Bearcats down the stretch, BU fell 15-9.
The loss extends to the Bearcats’ winless streak to three matches. They currently rank fourth of seven in the AE just under halfway through the conference season. Four of the seven contests left on Binghamton’s schedule are against squads currently ranked above them in the conference standings.
In 2015, Binghamton clinched the fourth and final postseason spot in its last conference matchup.
“We’ve just got to try to improve in all areas,” Kiriyama said. “We’ve got to do a little bit better off the serve and scoring right away, so we’ll be working on our offense a little bit.”
Binghamton is set to return to the court on Friday against reigning AE Champion New Hampshire. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the West Gym in Vestal, New York.