BU takes season's first win against Morgan State
8/30/21 by Joe Tonetti
In the second matchup of the 2021 Towson Tournament, the Binghamton volleyball team led 2-1 over Morgan State heading into the fourth set. After BU led for most of the set, the Bears clawed back the lead and forced the Bearcats to call a timeout. Returning to the court,
Binghamton managed to post three straight points over Morgan State to take the set 28-26 and record its first win of the season.
“The win was a pretty big deal for us considering our performance over the last couple of years,” said Binghamton head coach Glenn Kiriyama. “I think that [the win] helps the confidence level of the team and gives us something to shoot for every tournament.”
Binghamton’s (1-2) victory over Morgan State (0-4) is now its second in over two seasons. In 2019, the Bearcats went winless for their entire 23-match campaign and only ended their losing streak with a lone 3-0 victory over Stony Brook in their last match of the 2020-21 winter season.
Leading the team in assists against the Bears was senior setter Kiara Adams with 29. However, recording 12 kills for the Bearcats, freshman outside hitter Annie Bart spearheaded BU’s offense.
“[Bart] had a nice overall tournament,” Kiriyama said. “She showed some savvy out there, getting some kills off on difficult plays.”
Although Binghamton won its matchup against the Bears, it still posted an overall losing record over the weekend. In BU’s first game of the season, the U.S. Naval Academy (3-1) grabbed a decisive 3-0 victory, winning its sets 25-17, 25-14 and 25-14. Navy recorded more than double the kills of the Binghamton side and went on to win three out of four matches in the tournament, losing only four sets total.
“We learned quite a bit about our team, stuff we need to work on and where we fall short,” Kiriyama said. “We had some good matches but we were very inconsistent throughout the tournament.”
BU was also swept by Towson (4-0) in its last matchup of the tournament, dropping all three sets to the Tigers. While Towson quickly ran away with the lead in the first and third sets, the second set was neck and neck for much of the competition, with both teams even drawn 12-12 midway through. However, the Tigers got the upper hand on the offensive and went on a 13-3 run to close out the set. Towson would go on to sweep the entire tournament.
“[The team] knows that this is the time to work out the kinks and get us prepared for the conference,” Kiriyama said. “These tournaments are a grind, but they are very important for us just to refine our overall play.”
After opening their season at the Towson Tournament, the Bearcats are scheduled to take on the Lehigh Steel Tournament, opening the competition against Dartmouth on Friday, Sep. 3. First serve is set for 2 p.m. at the Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Comments