VESTAL, N.Y. (BUBearcats.com) - The Binghamton University volleyball team (7-8, 1-0) will host its first full conference weekend of the season tomorrow, with matches against New Hampshire (9-6, 0-1) Friday night and Bryant (11-8, 0-1) Sunday afternoon. Match time is slated for 6 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
Both contests will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be followed through live stats here.
The Bearcats are coming off a 3-0 sweep of NJIT that opened America East play last Friday, Sept. 29. BU commanded the match, owning the advantage in points, 58-42, kills, 48-32, and digs, 55-48. Two Bearcats, in
Tsvetelina Ilieva and
Ella Schabort, posted double digit kills while three earned hitting percentages over .300.
IIieva's team-high 20 kills and 19 digs, at a .348 hitting percentage, made it the senior's seventh double-double of the season. Schabort followed her teammate with 14 kills at .393 with two service aces. Anna Sprys added five kills at an impressive .500 clip.
Lottie Scully recorded 28 assists for Binghamton at setter while Danit Cohen added 13 helpers to add to the tally. Brenda Reynaga and Madison Konopka governed the back row for BU with nine and eight digs, respectively.
BU currently leads the conference in hitting percentage (.211) and opponent blocks (1.63 avg/s) through six weeks of play. Nationally, the team sits within the top-30 nationwide in aces per set (2.00) and team service aces (106).
Reigning America East Player of the Week Ilieva tops the conference in kills (238, 4.18 avg/s) and total points (281, 4.93 avg/s). Those numbers rank her sixteenth in the nation in points and seventeenth in total kills. Ilieva has now notched double-digit kill numbers in 12 of BU's 15 games this season, including three performances with 20 or more kills.
UNH owns a 18-27 series lead over the Bearcats, winning its last match 3-0 against BU in the 2022 America East semifinals, Nov. 19. The Wildcats most recently dropped a 3-1 match to conference foe UMBC on the road.
Bryant leads the all-time series 6-3 against Binghamton yet BU took the last two contests against the Bulldogs 3-0 last season. Bryant grabbed a 3-1 road win at Central Connecticut Tuesday night after being swept by UMBC 3-0 four days prior.
Next up, the Bearcats travel to Brooklyn to take on Long Island for a midweek non-conference match-up Tuesday, Oct. 10. The match will begin at 6 p.m.
