Volleyball beats Niagara in five sets

The volleyball team moved to 2-5 on the season after a 3-2 (28-26, 25-18, 19-25, 22-25, 15-13) defeat of Niagara on Sept. 8, in Lewiston.

“It was a tough match from the start,” head coach Glenn Kiriyama said, “but we did enough things well to pull out the victory. Julie (Chambers) did a nice job setting up our hitters, who had a sound performance. It was good to see the offense come alive.”

The first set included seven lead changes and no lead larger than three. The Bearcats were able to put away Niagara (4-4) with a kill from senior hitter Sandra DeVito and solid defense.

Binghamton went up two games to none after building a 20-15 lead in the second set, but followed its strong start by dropping the next two sets, evening the match at two apiece.

The Bearcats were down 13-11 late in the fifth set, but strung together four straight points to close out the match. Behind double-double performances from senior outside hitters Michelle McDonough and Anna Lejina, Binghamton was able to hold off the Purple Eagles.

McDonough had 22 kills with 11 digs, while Lejina produced 21 terminations and 10 digs. Binghamton outhit Niagara .259 to .194, marking the team’s highest hitting percentage of the season.

Chambers, the America East Setter of the Week, had a game-high 58 assists for the Bearcats. DeVito chipped in with a team-high 18 digs and sophomore middle Alex Roland put down 10 kills.