The Binghamton University volleyball team is set to face Providence College on Sunday in what will be BU’s fourth America East match.
The Bearcats (8-12, 0-3 AE) are still looking for their first conference victory after dropping their first three games to defending AE champion University at Albany before continuing to disappoint against University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Stony Brook University. With the loss to Stony Brook, the Bearcats are now off to their worst conference start since joining the America East.
BU had taken the first set against Albany before conceding the next three, and lost to the Seawolves in five sets after coming back twice from one set behind.
Binghamton head coach Glenn Kiriyama said that a lack of consistency has led to the Bearcats’ inability to finish strong in those matches.
“We [played] well at times, but couldn’t maintain that the whole game,” he said. “We are making a few errors in the game in serving and passing so we are working hard to clean those things up.”
Although the Bearcats currently sit at the bottom of the conference standings, Kiriyama claimed that the team’s morale remains high.
“The spirits are pretty good within the team,” he said. “They know what they have to work on. They realize that they played well at times. So they’re just focusing on the positive moments and working hard.”
Kiriyama, however, does not deny that the pressure on his team to deliver is increasing.
“There is some pressure,” he said. “The players want to do better. But we are focused on only the Providence game right now, and we want to do well at home for our fans.”
Providence (6-13, 1-1 AE), having won only two of its last eight games, will play Albany in its third conference game today before making the trip to Vestal for Sunday’s match. The Friars have a losing record against the Bearcats, who were victorious both times the two teams went head-to-head last season.
Nevertheless, Kiriyama still expects a tough match against the team that finished in the bottom of the conference last season.
“Every game in the conference is going to be a tough game, from top to bottom,” he said. “Teams are very competitive nowadays and this game is no different. They gave us a tough match last year, even though we won. And this is going to be an important game but it will be tough. It will be hard to recover from a 0-4 start so we want to win.”
Kiriyama expects his entire roster to be fit and available to compete on Sunday.
“Everybody is good to go,” he said. “There were some small injuries before. Grace [Vickers] didn’t play last weekend but I think she’ll be ready for Sunday.”
The match is set to get underway at 1 p.m. on Sunday in the West Gym.