Coming off an impressive 3-1 victory over Cornell University on Friday, the Binghamton University volleyball team dropped its conference opener to University at Albany 3-1 Sunday afternoon despite getting off to an auspicious start.
On Friday, the Bearcats battled back from a one-set deficit against Cornell to take the next three straight sets, and the match 3-1. Junior outside hitter Iva Partaleva led the Bearcats, matching a career-best with 22 kills and a team-high .406 attack percentage. Sophomore middle hitter Grace Vickers contributed with 17 kills of her own, while freshman setter Amanda Dettmann tallied a match-high 50 assists.
In Sunday’s conference opener against Albany, the Bearcats (8-10, 0-1 America East) took the first five points of the first set. Dettmann was a key contributor during the run as she netted a service ace and assisted junior middle blocker Alex Roland for a key kill. While the Great Danes (8-9, 1-0 AE) improved their play after the slow start, Binghamton sustained its momentum, as successful attacks from Vickers and Partaleva propelled the Bearcats.
Binghamton’s relentless offense and fine defensive play, holding the Great Danes to a -.053 attack percentage, was intrinsic to an encouraging opening set, 25-19 in favor of the Bearcats.
The competitive intensity between these America East rivals parlayed itself into the second set where the Bearcats grabbed a quick 4-0 lead.
But unlike in the previous set, Albany found its rhythm early to take a 9-7 lead before Binghamton head coach Glenn Kiriyama called a timeout. Once play proceeded, BU tied the score at nine after Dettmann’s successful defense of an Albany attack.
Albany pulled ahead and remained there until a BU rally highlighted by a Partaleva kill propelled the Bearcats to within one. But Albany withstood the Binghamton surge and built a three-point advantage to win the second set, 25-23.
Kiriyama thought the second frame was obtainable for his team, but poor execution did them in.
“I thought if we had passed better we could’ve won the second set,” he said. “Any time we had a pretty good pass and had a nice swing at it, we were able to convert most of the time.”
Binghamton’s inability to rediscover its opening set intensity on the offensive and defensive ends changed the makings of a competitive match to a lopsided affair that was dominated by Albany.
By the third set, the Great Danes picked up their energy on defense and tallied a .393 attack percentage, their best of the match. The Bearcats dropped the third set, 25-15.
In the fourth set, the Great Danes jumped ahead and led for most of the frame. The Bearcats reduced Albany’s lead to six points after a Roland kill pushed the score to 16-10. But a weak -.059 Binghamton attack percentage and the efforts of Albany’s Dunja Prgomet, who connected on 13 kills, allowed for the Great Danes to hold on to the lead as they took the fourth and final set, 25-15.
During the match, Vickers suffered an ankle injury that is not believed to be serious.
Despite the disappointing loss, Kiriyama is optimistic about the team moving forward, but attributes his team’s demise to sloppy play.
“We did some things well, but committed too many errors,” he said. “By not taking care of the ball, we were unable to execute our offense the way we would like to. Albany is a quality team and I think some of our younger players now have a feel for conference play. We’re going to work and use tonight’s match as a teaching tool.”
The Bearcats were led by Dettmann’s 35 assists, Partaleva’s 15 kills and sophomore libero Xiomara Ortiz’s 28 digs. Prgomet’s 13 kills and Brooke Stanley’s 41 assists spearheaded the offensive attack for the Great Danes.
The Bearcats are scheduled to resume conference play on Friday when they travel to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (10-6, 0-1 AE). Last season the Bearcats were unable to defeat the Retrievers in three matchups and lost to them in the semifinals of the America East conference tournament. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m.
Following the match against UMBC, Binghamton is scheduled to head to Stony Brook University (7-7, 1-0 AE) at 1 p.m. on Sunday to take on the Seawolves.