VESTAL, N.Y. (BinghamtonBearcats.com) - The Binghamton Bearcats Volleyball team (1-2) fell to Bucknell (2-1), 3-0, to conclude The 2024 Bearcat Classic inside the Events Center, Saturday afternoon. 

Toledo (3-0) took The Bearcat Classic title after beating Merrimack (0-3), 3-1, this morning. Bucknell finished second after claiming two straight-set wins over the Bearcats and the Warriors. Binghamton took the third spot with yesterday's season opening victory over Merrimack, 3-0. 

Toledo's Taylor Alt was named Bearcat Classic Most Valuable Player while her teammates Izzy Granger and Sierra Pertzborn were named to the All-Tournament Team. Bucknell's Sydney Shaffer and Tijana Kostic, along with Merrimack's Hannah Webber, also represented their respective teams as honorees. 

With 27 digs in her first three matches for Binghamton, Emily Cronkhite was the Bearcats sole honoree on the All-Tournament team. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Three, 3-0, runs put Bucknell up, 13-6, early in the first set. Kills from Tsvetelina Ilieva and Viktoria Dimitrova added three to the Bearcats tally before both teams traded points in twos to make it, 20-15, Bucknell. A Bison attack error gave the Bearcats the momentum to take four straight points and cut the visiting team's lead to one, 20-19. Bucknell won five of the next seven points to win the frame, 25-21. 

Bucknell continued to chip away at Binghamton in the second set, winning 11 points on the Bearcats serves. The Bison led 8-2 after the first 10 points to take another early lead. Both opponents traded 3-0 runs before going back and forth again to make the score, 18-14, Bucknell. Five Bison kills and one service ace in the final nine sequences sealed the set for Bucknell, 25-16. 

The Bison finished strong in the final set with eight straight points to grab an insurmountable, 19-7 lead. The Bearcats fought back with seven scores in the next 13 points, most notably on  a kill from Ella Schabort and an ace by Lottie Scully, but were unable to comeback and fell, 25-14, in the final frame. 

MATCH NOTES 

• Binghamton posted eight team blocks while Bucknell recorded just four stops at net.
• Ilieva accounted for a team-best nine points with eight kills, five digs and one service ace. Her team-high eight kills vs. the Bison brought Ilieva's weekend total to 21 across three matches 
• Dimitrova picked up six kills for a second straight match against the Bison, ending the weekend with 17 kills in her first three collegiate matches 
• Cronkhite is the first Bearcat to receive All-Tournament honors in their first team appearances since Ella Schabort earned the same distinction last season 
• Briana Binagi recorded her first career block after she made her first appearance vs. Toledo Saturday night 

UP NEXT 
Binghamton hits the road to compete at Villanova, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m.

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