The Binghamton volleyball team throttled UMBC in its final regular season match on Friday, securing a postseason bid in the America East Tournament. Assisted by a loss from Stony Brook over the weekend, BU (9-18, 7-5 AE) earned the number two seed by taking the tiebreaker over the Seawolves.

In the first set of BU’s match, the Bearcats never trailed the Retrievers (10-15, 4-8 AE). UMBC battled BU early to keep the score within three before Binghamton went on a 10-0 run to finish off the first set, 25-12. Freshman middle hitter Alexis LaGoy and sophomore outside hitter Allison Hovie combined for seven kills during the stretch before senior setter Amanda Dettmann connected on one of her trademark drop kills to finish off the set.

“She’s probably the biggest threat of any setter in the conference,” BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama said. “She does a good job of keeping the opponents on their toes. She’s gotten better and better, especially as this season has gone on.”

The second set was tightly contested with 12 tie scores and seven lead changes, but a match-low .033 hitting percentage coupled with eight attack errors hampered BU throughout the period. UMBC capitalized on BU’s mistakes and finished off the period, 25-21, to even the match heading into the break.

“We didn’t do the same things we did the first game, we didn’t serve as well — missed a few [serves] — the ball just didn’t drop our way a few times there,” Kiriyama said. “We had to pick up our defense and serving a little bit.”

BU came out of the break ready to impose its will in the pivotal third set. After opening the set on a 7-0 run, Binghamton never looked back. The Retrievers battled to get as close as eight before a kill apiece from senior outside hitter Kristin Hovie and LaGoy — accompanying a service ace from sophomore libero Bailey Walker — closed the set, 25-16, in BU’s favor.

“They’ve done it a few times this year, and they’ve come out strong out of the break,” Kiriyama said. “It’s good to see them regroup like that and be able to regain the momentum and their focus.”

Both teams clamped down on their attack errors and each connected on match-high hitting percentages, with BU and UMBC hitting .364 and .368, respectively, in the fourth set. UMBC held an early 4-3 lead, but after BU tied the score at six, the Retrievers pulled away. A kill from sophomore middle hitter Bianca Anderson sandwiched between two Allison Hovie kills pushed Binghamton’s lead to 10-6. BU never trailed again as they prevailed, 25-20, to take the set and the match, 3-1.

While a victory against UMBC secured a postseason bid for BU, the Bearcats could only secure the two seed after UMass Lowell pulled a shocking upset over Stony Brook. The win was its first conference victory in the AE. Albany finished in third while Stony Brook took the fourth and last seed.

”Anything can happen in conference, it was important that we won that last match to give us that chance,” Kiriyama said. “We’re thankful that we’re able to enter the tournament as the second seed.”

Next up for BU is its opening round matchup against Albany, who will host the tournament after finishing first in the conference standings. First serve is slated for 3 p.m. at Lundholm Gymnasium in Durham, New Hampshire.