The Binghamton volleyball team is set to wrap up its regular season schedule this weekend when it hits the road to take on UMBC. After falling in two contests last weekend, the Bearcats (8-19, 6-5 America East) hope that the third time is the charm in its search to capture a postseason bid in the America East tournament.
BU had a chance to secure a spot in the playoffs last weekend with a victory in one of its two contests. However, the Bearcats were defeated by both Hartford and Stony Brook, leaving the final spot in the tournament up for grabs.
Binghamton does not need to win its game today to advance, as it will remain alive depending on how the other teams fare. But the Bearcats would rather not stumble into the postseason on a loss.
“We don’t want to slip into the playoffs through the back door,” BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama said. “We’d rather go out there on a good roll. So it’s important that we play well against UMBC and try to execute our offense.”
When UMBC (10-13, 4-6 AE) came to Binghamton on Oct. 19, the Bearcats stunned the Retrievers in a three-set sweep. The team played one of its best games that day, stifling UMBC’s strong hitting. BU held the dynamic duo of redshirt junior middle hitter Krystal Mlemchukwu and junior outside hitter Sherelle Walker to uninspiring hitting percentages of .078 and .062, respectively. On the other side of the net, outside hitters Kristin and Allison Hovie — a senior and sophomore, respectively — combined for 22 kills to lead Binghamton’s offense.
The Bearcats hope that they can execute a similar game plan this time around, focusing on solid defense and a consistent offense.
“I think we just have to remain aggressive, especially with our serving,” Kiriyama said. “When we get the chance, we want to really focus on connecting well with our hitters and running our offense at a high efficiency.”
UMBC must win out the rest of its season in order to have a chance at making the playoffs. Between the Retrievers’ desperation and the home crowd energy, the Bearcats have a great deal working against them. The key, however, will be maintaining composure and focus.
“We have to try not to look ahead to anything and play each point as hard as we can,” Kiriyama said. “If we can do that we’ll have a good result.”
If the Bearcats falter against the Retrievers, there is still a chance BU can find its way into the playoffs. If Hartford (16-12, 4-6 AE) drops either of its games this weekend to UNH or UMass Lowell and UMBC loses its regular season finale at home against Albany, the Bearcats will earn the fourth and final seed in the conference tournament.
However, if Hartford wins both of its matchups and the Bearcats fall, they will earn the last playoff spot. If Hartford drops a game and UMBC defeats Albany as well as BU, than the final playoff spot will be determined by a tiebreaker, which hinges upon today’s game.
But BU hopes it can avoid all of these playoff scenarios in securing a win today.
“We play [UMBC] first before anything else really happens,” Kiriyama said. “We can’t wait to rely on anything else. We want to go out and play our hardest.”
Today’s match between BU and UMBC is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the RAC Arena in Catonsville, Maryland.