With regular season conference play winding to a close, the Binghamton University volleyball team will take to the road this weekend for a pair of matches against University of New Hampshire and Providence College. With just five games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Bearcats currently sit in a third-place tie with University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to whom they fell on the road last weekend.
This weekend will be crucial for placement in the America East Conference tournament. With only the top four teams qualifying, Binghamton (7-16, 4-3 America East) enters tonight’s game against New Hampshire (13-10, 5-2 AE) with a one-and-a-half-game lead over fifth-place Stony Brook University (7-12, 2-4 AE), which is scheduled to visit undefeated University at Albany (10-12, 7-0 AE) tonight before heading to University of Hartford (8-15, 2-5 AE) on Sunday. Needless to say, it would be to Binghamton’s advantage if the first-place Great Danes top Stony Brook and give the Bearcats some separation from the fifth-place squad. The Hawks are in a similar spot to the the Seawolves, so Sunday’s match between Hartford and Stony Brook is essentially irrelevant to the Bearcats — Binghamton already topped each team in the first half of conference play.
New Hampshire currently holds second place in the conference. Binghamton fell to the Wildcats in four sets during their last encounter on Sept. 30.
Currently in last place, Providence College (1-24, 0-7 AE) still has the potential to be a challenge on the road on Sunday, but the Bearcats swept the Friars in three sets on Sept. 28.
“I feel confident about our two games this weekend,” senior middle hitter Alex Roland said. “Adjusting to our opponent and being consistent on our side of the net will determine our success. Our team has been working hard all week in practice and we are ready to compete with both UNH and Providence this weekend.”
The Bearcats and Wildcats are set to tip-off at 7 p.m. tonight at Lundholm Gymnasium.