SMITHFIELD, R.I. Surging Binghamton volleyball (17-7, 8-2 America East) swept host Bryant (19-11, 6-4 AE) 3-0 Sunday afternoon at Chace Athletic Center to capture the program's first America East regular season title and with it, earned the No. 1 seed and host role for next weekend's four-team championship. It will be the first time Binghamton has hosted the championship in its 21 years of America East membership. The program has won three postseason titles (2005, 2009, 2012). 

Binghamton will host fourth-seeded New Hampshire in Saturday's 1 p.m. semifinal at West Gym. Second-seeded UMBC and third-seeded Bryant will meet in the 4 p.m. semifinal. The two winners will square off in the championship match at 1 p.m. Sunday with an NCAA berth at stake.

The Bearcats rolled to another three-game sweep of a conference opponent, stifling a Bulldogs team that had a shot at winning the title on its Senior Day. Instead BU won its fourth straight match and fifth of six to claim the title outright. First-year head coach Allie Yaeger's squad finished the regular season with an 8-2 conference mark with six of those wins coming via sweep. 

"Today was an historic day for this program," Yaeger said. "We have used the word 'legacy' a lot this year and these players are trying to strive toward leaving one. Today was a step in that direction. I'm proud of the execution we brought to the floor today. We try to be consistent and simple and to execute. We were able to keep our hitting efficiently high while defending them both with our blocking and our defense. We struggled early with winning the serve and pass game but we were able to turn the corner on that halfway through the second set. We really talked about staying focused and doing it in three. Big weekend to come and we are looking to carry this momentum into the conference tourney."

On Sunday, BU won 25-21, 25-20, 25-17 to pin a home sweep on Bryant for the first time since 2019. The Bearcats limited the Bulldogs to an attack percentage of just .037.  

Freshman opposite hitter Giulia Bonifacio led a strong BU attack with 13 kills. She didn't commit an attack error, hit .500 and added 11 digs and five blocks in a superb overall performance. Junior hitter Stefana Stan added 12 kills (.423) and junior hitter Tsvetelina Ilieva added 10 kills and eight digs. Senior blocker Anna Sprys produced eight blocks and freshman setter Lottie Scully handed out 33 assists with nine digs.   

In the first set, BU trailed 20-18 before closing with a decisive 10-2 run. Bonifacio had four kills and Sprys added four blocks. Stan and Sprys combined for a block on set point to finish it.

In Set 2, the Bearcats trailed 15-13 before Bonifacio keyed a 9-3 run with two kills and a block. With BU up 22-20, junior hitter Stephanie Gatto was in the mix on back-to-back blocks and BU took the set 25-20 on a Bryant attack error. Stan registered five kills in the set and Bonifacio and Ilieva added four apiece. 

In the final set, BU jumped out to a 10-3 lead and held it throughout. Up 18-13, the Bearcats got three kills from Stan and two more from Bonifacio to close it out. Binghamton hit .375 in the set.