The 2012 America East tournament champions will not have an opportunity to defend their crown.
After sweeping UMass Lowell on Friday, the Bearcats (9-19, 7-7 America East) fell to New Hampshire in the regular-season finale. A win over the Wildcats (18-12, 12-2 AE) wouldn’t have helped Binghamton’s playoff chances, as Albany swept the River Hawks earlier in the day to clinch the fourth and final tournament berth.
“I thought we played well over the weekend,” BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama said. “[We] had some really great performances from some individuals. I think over the second half of the season we really upped our level of play, and it was good to see us finish strong.”
Senior middle hitter Grace Vickers especially excelled for the Bearcats against New Hampshire. She finished with a career-high 23 kills, which broke her former record of 18 from Oct. 15 against Cornell, and contributed four service aces en route to earning her second straight AE Player of the Week honors. Vickers closed out her final year averaging 4.12 kills per set with a league-best .458 attack percentage. She also leaves the program with a .282 hitting percentage, good for second all-time, and ranks in the top 10 all-time in two categories: kills (860) and blocks (276).
“[Vickers] has been a big factor for us over the last couple of years here,” Kiriyama said. “She was very dominant this season, especially in conference. She will be missed and tough to replace. It will be a new team next year, and hopefully we can make up for her loss.”
Senior libero Xiomara Ortiz matched her career-high 32 digs in the final game of her collegiate career. She leaves the program as the all-time leader with 1,925 digs and stands one whole dig per set over the next player on the program’s all-time list, with 4.45 per set.
The match’s first stanza saw the momentum swing back and forth multiple times. The Wildcats raced out to a 15-9 lead early, but the Bearcats responded with an 11-2 run to take a 20-17 lead. But BU was unable to score again, and New Hampshire embarked upon an 8-0 run of its own to clinch the set, 25-20.
The Bearcats jumped out to a lead early in the second frame, but were unable to hold on, and fell, 25-20.
The third set featured eight kills by Vickers, who led Binghamton in capturing the third and fourth sets, 25-21 and 25-23, respectively.
In the final set, BU and New Hampshire battled to a tie score of six. However, New Hampshire closed the match on a 9-1 run, defeating the Bearcats, 15-7, in BU’s last set of the season.
In their sweep of the River Hawks (0-26, 0-14 AE) on Friday, the Bearcats jumped out to an early lead, winning the first set, 25-16. They would never look back throughout the match, capturing the second, 25-17, and the third, 25-15.
Junior outside hitter Kristin Hovie and freshman outside hitter Allison Hovie led Binghamton. The younger sister finished the match with 12 kills and six digs, en route to garnering her second AE Rookie of the Week honors, while Kristin recorded 11 kills and seven digs.
“We knew [Allison] was good [when we recruited her],” Kiriyama said. “She has done a little bit better than I thought she would. She’s come a ways. She has really improved throughout the season, and it was good to see her end really well over these last couple of weeks.”
Binghamton finished the season fifth in the conference, missing the playoffs by two games and failing to defend its America East championship title. It is the second time in three years BU has failed to make the playoffs. However, Binghamton is set to return five starters in 2014 as the team looks to turn the page.