The Binghamton volleyball team closed its non-conference tour over the weekend by getting swept at the Cornell Invitational. The Bearcats (3-11) faced Cornell (4-6), Loyola of Chicago and Seton Hall in the two-day tournament, losing the first two matches, 3-1 and 3-0, before finishing strong against Seton Hall with a 3-2 loss.
“I thought we started off a little bit slow Friday night, but we picked it up a lot on Saturday,” BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama said. “The play got better.”
The Bearcats took the floor against the hosts on Friday night in an attempt to capture a victory against the Big Red (4-6) for the fifth time in seven seasons. However, the Bearcats faced defeat after losing two quick sets and eventually falling in the fourth, 25-23.
Although the Bearcats struggled early on in the match, freshman outside hitter Gabby Alicea didn’t back down against the Big Red. Alicea opened the set with two aces to put BU up 5-0. Senior right-side hitter Megan Burgess and sophomore setter Sarah Ngo both put points on the board while freshman outside hitter Erin Shultz followed with an ace to close out a third-set victory. But the Bearcats’ effort was to no avail, dropping their opening contest to Cornell, 3-1.
Saturday morning also brought no relief for BU, collapsing in a three-set shutout by the Ramblers (11-2). With one more opportunity against Seton Hall on Saturday afternoon, the Bearcats did not go away easily, pushing the Pirates to a five-set match.
After dropping the opening two sets, BU played well in the third. Ngo hit Shultz and sophomore middle hitter Kristella Morina for kills early on in the set as Binghamton captured the frame, 25-20. The Bearcats went on to take the fourth set, 25-22, but fell in the deciding set, 15-12.
No stranger to five-set situations, Saturday’s match against the Pirates was Binghamton’s sixth five-game match of 2015 and only the third that BU has not won. Although the weekend was disappointing on the scoreboard for the Bearcats, they proved their abilities to hang tough until the end — a promising trait, as the Bearcats are set to open up their America East schedule on Friday.
“They compete well and they don’t give up,” Kiriyama said. “They work for every point.”
Binghamton is scheduled to face Albany on Friday. First set is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the West Gym in Vestal, New York.