The Binghamton University volleyball team continued its sluggish start on Wednesday, dropping its home opener in a non-conference matchup to Niagara University in three straight sets (25-15, 25-18, 25-21). The defeat sunk the Bearcats to 0-5 on the year, marking their worst start to the season in their Division I history.
Binghamton head coach Glenn Kiriyama viewed the match as a learning experience for a young team that saw six seniors graduate last season, including star outside hitters Michelle McDonough and Anna Lejina.
“There’s a lot of stuff we need to work on,” Kiriyama said. “We’re a pretty young team. We’re just looking to improve a little bit every match that we play. I thought we were pretty close to [Niagara University], it’s just that we sort of killed ourselves with a lot of errors on our side and especially serving — that was pretty apparent to everybody.”
The Bearcats got off to a fast start in the first set against defending MAAC champion Niagara (2-2) as they quickly jumped ahead of the Purple Eagles 4-1. The score remained close, however, as the lead continued to bounce back and forth between the two teams.
Finding themselves down 14-10, the Bearcats embarked on a five-point run highlighted by impressive digs from sophomore libero Xiomara Ortiz and a go-ahead kill from freshman setter Amanda Dettmann to put BU ahead 15-14.
But the tempo quickly changed during the next play when the Purple Eagles earned a point off a BU attacking error to spark a run of their own. Niagara never looked back, sprinting to victory with 10 consecutive points and taking the set 25-15.
In the second set, the Bearcats once again took a quick 4-1 lead, but would soon find themselves trailing once more. With BU down 11-6, freshman outside hitter Kristin Hovie helped to propel the Bearcats back into the lead, nailing three kills during a 7-1 BU run. The Purple Eagles answered with a six-point streak of their own, however, to regain the lead. BU would prove unable to surmount the deficit and Niagara took the second set 25-18.
The third set proved to be the closest of the three as the Bearcats battled to stay alive. With the score tied at 11, kills from Hovie and Dettmann and a Niagara attack error handed BU its largest lead of the set.
Niagara responded with an 8-1 run highlighted by three service aces to pull ahead 19-15. BU would not see the lead for the rest of the match.
The Bearcats managed to pull within one after a kill from junior outside hitter Iva Partaleva and two Niagara attack errors, but the Purple Eagles soon pulled away, taking the set 25-21 and the match 3-0.
The defeat was BU’s fifth straight and marks the first time the Bearcats have lost to Niagara since 2001.
Partaleva led Binghamton with eight kills and two service aces, but also committed a team-high nine errors, landing a -.028 hitting percentage. Partaleva, whose right upper thigh appeared taped up during the match, is still recovering from a minor injury, according to Kiriyama.
“She came in ready this preseason and she’s pretty hungry to do well,” Kiriyama said. “You can see she had a little bit of an injury there, her leg is taped up a little bit, so that sort of hampered her a little bit. She’s just coming around again, but we’re gonna be relying on her a lot this year and I think she’ll step up to the challenge.”
Both Hovie and Dettmann shone in their home debuts. Hovie tallied seven kills and led the team with a .333 hitting percentage, while Dettmann shone with a game-high 23 assists.
Ortiz anchored the Bearcats with 14 kills.
The Bearcats are next scheduled to compete in the University of Connecticut Toyota Classic in Storrs, Conn. this weekend. BU is set to kick things off against Howard University at 5 p.m. tonight. The Bearcats are then scheduled to face off against College of the Holy Cross 10 a.m. tomorrow followed by UConn at 7 p.m.