To open the America East (AE) conference play, the Binghamton volleyball team earned a 3-0 win against the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey to snap its five-game losing streak. Despite going down early in the first two sets, the Bearcats climbed back to win them both. Then, in the final set, BU was able to secure the victory in overtime, sweeping its first AE matchup against the Highlanders.

“It was an emotional roller coaster,” said Binghamton head coach Allie Yaeger. “You’re losing, you’re winning, you’re losing, you’re winning. I’m really happy we were able to pull that off in three.”

Binghamton (7-8, 1-0 AE) opened up the match by exchanging points with the Highlanders (6-9, 0-1 AE). With the score tied at six, NJIT began to pull away after several Binghamton errors, going on a 6-1 run, making it 12-7. Despite going down early, Binghamton crawled back, slowly chipping away at the Highlanders’ lead. Later in the frame, with NJIT leading 17-12, senior outside hitter Tsvetelina Ilieva spearheaded a 6-1 Binghamton run that featured five total kills and a service ace as BU tied the score at 18. Despite facing an early five-point deficit, the Bearcats completed the comeback, winning seven out of the final nine points to take the first set 25-20.

“We are not putting ourselves in the best position to win points if we can’t even put the ball in play at our own end line,” Yaeger said. “That was really crucial in the scores … when we were losing, it was our errors … so we know we can clean it up.”

The second set began in a similar fashion as the Highlanders took an early lead. After Binghamton went down 10-5, the visitors burned their first timeout of the set. However, NJIT continued to expand its lead, going up 17-9. Binghamton then called another timeout to regroup. Coming out of the timeout, Binghamton began to click and eventually took the lead 19-18. BU would not relinquish this lead for the rest of the set, as a service ace from freshman outside hitter Ella Schabort secured a 25-22 set win for the Bearcats.

“I really didn’t say much [during the timeout],” Yaeger said. “[During the timeout] I said, ‘I can’t say much when you guys can’t put the ball in the court. You guys know you’re better than this.’”

The final set went back-and-forth as both the Bearcats and the Highlanders were unable to string together a significant run. With the score tied at nine, BU gained some momentum, going on a 5-0 run to make it 13-9. Although Binghamton had the lead, NJIT managed to keep pace throughout the set. Gradually, NJIT began to apply more pressure on the Bearcats’ defense and eventually took the lead 20-19. At this point, both teams continued exchanging points, looking to gather some momentum and take the set.

With the score at 24-23, Binghamton looked to put the set away but was unable to as NJIT found a way to get on the board, sending the match into overtime with the score tied at 24 apiece. Then, a kill from Ilieva, which was followed up by a NJIT attack error allowed Bearcats to take the set 26-24, as they completed the 3-0 sweep over the Highlanders.

“At times we really struggled,” Yaeger said. “At other times … when our backs were against the wall and we had no choice but to perform and put balls away [and] we were going to be in more trouble than we already were, we were able to perform.”

Ilieva led the way for the Bearcats on both sides of the ball registering 20 kills and 19 digs. It was also her ninth consecutive match with double-figure kills. In addition, Schabort tallied 14 kills of her own in the victory. Overall, Binghamton hit .282 while holding NJIT to just a .117 hitting percentage.

“[Ilieva] has become such a good go-to player for us,” Yaeger said. “She always has been in the past, but recently, she’s been really, really good at being able to put a ball away a lot, for us … I’m very confident in setting her because I know most of the time it’s going to be a kill or at least we’ll take the other team out of the system.”

Binghamton will head home to continue AE play as it looks to avenge its 2022 AE tournament semi-final loss to the University of New Hampshire on Friday, Oct. 6. First serve is scheduled for 6:07 p.m. at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.