Before Friday, the Binghamton volleyball team’s last appearance in the America East postseason tournament was in 2012. That year, the Bearcats (9-20, 7-5 America East) captured the conference championship, sweeping Albany, 3-0, to take the crown. This season, the third-seeded Great Danes (11-17, 8-6 AE) proved a more formidable opponent. They dismantled second-seeded BU in four sets to open tournament play, ending Binghamton’s season.
“We started off slow,” BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama said. “It was the first time [in the tournament] for a lot of them — maybe they were a little bit nervous. As the match went on, they got a little bit better and we played pretty competitive in the last two games of the match and gave them a good battle.”
The Bearcats faltered early in the match. Failing to hold a lead in the first set, BU fell behind, 10-3, and showed no ability to recover. The Great Danes combined for a hitting percentage of .277 in the period and ran away with the set, 25-16.
BU also struggled on offense in the second set, compiling a hitting percentage of just .083. That inefficacy doomed the Bearcats, who headed into the break trailing by two sets.
“We really weren’t in sync,” Kiriyama said. “The setters and the hitters weren’t connecting well. Albany had some strong hitters and we knew that coming in and they were tough to stop. We fell behind early and really didn’t get into it until later in the match.”
The Bearcats didn’t go down without a fight. They played one of their best sets of the season in the third stanza, hitting at a match-high clip of .389 and connecting on 15 kills while committing only three kill errors. Propelled by a tremendous 14-4 run in the middle of the period — sparked by two early kills from sophomore outside hitter Allison Hovie — the Bearcats were victorious, 25-15.
But BU could not sustain the momentum generated by the save. The two teams battled in the fourth, alternating points along the way. With the score tied at 22, Albany connected for three straight points, winning the set and sending the Bearcats home empty-handed.
“We served a lot better [in the last two sets] which made it tougher on their hitters to get quality sets, which helped our defense out quite a bit,” Kiriyama said. “I thought we started connecting better with our hitters and Allie [Hovie] started going and [freshman middle hitter] Alexis LaGoy had a decent match. Unfortunately we couldn’t get everyone going. It was a tough match. But as tough as it was, we were right there at the end.”
Hovie recorded her tenth double-double of the season, finishing the match with 16 kills and 17 digs. LaGoy recorded 11 kills, two service aces while hitting at a team high .346 clip. Hovie, who was named AE First-Team All-Conference this season, and LaGoy, the AE Rookie of the Year, were two of the Bearcats top offensive weapons this season.
“It is nice knowing that we have Allison and Alexis back [next year],” Kiriyama said. “They have been very steady throughout the year and their hitting percentage and hitting efficiency shows that. They will be our leaders in the years to come here.”
Senior setter Amanda Dettmann, one of only three Bearcats in program history to record over 4,000 career assists, dished out 37 dimes during the contest to add to her already impressive career. Senior outside hitter Kristin Hovie contributed 10 kills against Albany to close out her time in green and white. Those two, along with senior defensive specialist Alexa Zbytniewski, saw their tenure as Bearcats come to an end with the defeat.
“They have been three very important pieces to our team this year and past years,” Kiriyama said. “Their leadership will be the most glaring thing that will lose … they have done a lot for our program and we are just glad we’ve had the chance to have them on our team the last few years.”