VESTAL, N.Y. - Regular season champion Stony Brook (19-8, 12-0 America East) put down 48 kills and completed a perfect conference season with a 3-0 volleyball victory over host Binghamton (5-20, 3-9 AE) Sunday afternoon at West Gym. The Seawolves won 25-21, 25-14, 25-16.
The Bearcats started strong and led the first set 16-8 before the Seawolves rallied. Then with the score even at 21-21, junior hitter Maria Poole produced three kills, with the final putaway sealing the win. Senior hitters
Gaby Alicea (7 kills) and
Erin Shultz (6 kills) kept BU close and the Bearcats (.282) actually outhit Stony Brook (.273) in the set.
But the Seawolves scored the first five points of the second set and never looked back, tallying 14 kills (.400) against a BU lineup that was sprinkled with substitutes. In the third set, the visitors jumped out to a 12-4 cushion and Binghamton got no closer than seven the rest of the way.
In their final collegiate matches, Schultz and Alicea wound up with 10 and nine kills, respectively. Freshman setter
Kiara Adams handed out 14 assists with five digs and sophomore
Samantha Gioiosa added 14 digs.Â
Before the match, Shultz, Alicea,
Kaelan Haag and
Lexi LaGoy were honored on Senior Day. Alicea ended her stellar four-year career with 1,216 kills, which ranks third in BU program history. Shultz produced 938 career kills, which ranks eighth.   Â
