After clinching a spot in the America East playoffs last week against Bryant, the Binghamton volleyball team secured two victories over the weekend against UMBC and New Hampshire. With the two wins at home, the Bearcats have ended conference play undefeated on their home floor.

“Every single set counts and every single point matters,” said Binghamton head coach Allie Yaeger. “This season has flown by so fast, but we really need to just stay focused.”

In Binghamton’s (17-9, 7-2 AE) first game of the weekend on Friday evening against UMBC (8-14, 6-3 AE), the Bearcats secured a 3-0 sweep over the Retrievers — 25-19, 25-22 and 25-22. After being swept on the Retrievers’ home court in early October, BU flipped the script to earn its fourth straight win in conference play.

“It was definitely a must-win for us,” Yaeger said. “To be able to do it in three was huge. With this conference and how good everybody is, you never know when you’re going to be in a three-way tie for first.”

The Retrievers could not find a way to stop fifth-year outside hitter Tsvetelina Ilieva, who led all players with 19 kills. Freshman right side hitter Viktoria Dimitrova also played a major role in the win, adding 12 kills of her own. BU’s defense, including 18 blocks, also held UMBC to a .191 hitting percentage.

“That’s a good UMBC team,” Yaeger said. “We just really, really did a good job with our scouting report and the girls being disciplined to stop their players.”

In their second match of the weekend on Sunday afternoon, the Bearcats extended their winning streak, earning their second win of the weekend against New Hampshire (15-9, 6-3 AE) — 19-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-23 and 15-12. After going down two sets to none, Binghamton stormed back to earn a victory in reverse-sweep fashion.

“We started making defense a priority,” Yaeger said. “If you take a look at the sets after set two, [Dimitrova] started getting going. [sophomore middle blocker Misa Dlouha] started getting going. [Sophomore outside hitter Ella Schabort] started contributing. I thought [senior outside hitter/defensive specialist Sydney Aguirre] did a phenomenal job of serve receive, and passing really well.”

Four Bearcats finished with double-digit kills. Ilieva led the way for BU with 20 kills while Schabort and Dimitrova added 13 kills each. Lastly, Dlouha tallied 12 kills. In addition, after the match, Binghamton honored Ilieva and Aguirre in a Senior Day ceremony. Yaeger spoke about their impacts on the team, both on and off the court.

“[Ilieva and Aguirre] just mean so much to me,” Yaeger said. “Besides the fact of them being good volleyball players and everything that they’ve contributed to this program over the last couple of years and contributed to our success, they are such good people … We’re going to miss them so much.”

With the team likely hosting the AE tournament after defeating two of the top teams in the conference, Binghamton will shift its focus toward its final two matches, against Lehigh and NJIT. Yaeger described how the team needs to stay poised with just a few more weekends left in the season.

“We have to want it,” Yaeger said. “I know they want it. We’ve talked about this for so long, and now it’s here. I can’t believe it. By the time you get to the conference tournament, you’ve already seen everybody twice. We’ve just got to be disciplined and stay focused.”

Binghamton will take on Lehigh on Wednesday, Nov. 13, before its final conference showdown on the road against NJIT. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.