UAlbany Volleyball Defeats Binghamton in Four to Advance to the America East Title Match
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DURHAM, N.H. – The 3-seed UAlbany volleyball team proved the third time was a charm as it defeated rival 2-seed Binghamton in four (25-16, 25-23, 15-25, 25-23) to advance to the America East title match tomorrow.
UAlbany (10-15), which had fallen to Binghamton (9-19) twice in the regular season, returns to the title match after missing it in 2013. UAlbany will take on 1-seed New Hampshire tomorrow at the Lundholm Gym in Durham at 2 p.m.
“We focused a lot on blocking this week, and it paid off, and, with a few exceptions, our passing was good overall,” said UAlbany coach MJ Engstrom, who leads the Great Danes into a sixth America East title match in her tenure. “Vik [Stroilo], Laini [Leindecker] and Lauren [Spreen] did a great job feeding Mikala [McCauley], and Mikala was able to set our middles to keep the Binghamton blockers guessing. We are starting to flow better as a team, and that makes a big difference in the ease of scoring points.”
Amanda Dolan led the charge on the blocks with five, hitting .444 with 13 kills and just one attack error. She had the final two points in the second set on a block and kill.
“Everything really came together for this game, and we started peaking at the right time,” said Dolan. “Mikala was setting great, and it was a clean team effort.”
Amy Hunter led the Great Danes in kills with 16, the second time in as many America East Tournament matches she has played where she was the kills-leader. Laini Leindecker earned a double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs. Viktoriia Stroilo finished with 25 digs, while Tatum Jungsten hit .267 with eight kills and three blocks. In the back row, Lauren Spreen had 16 digs, while Emily Lopes had 11. Mikala McCauley concluded with 41 assists and nine digs. Sofia Furlong tallied five kills and four blocks.
For Binghamton, Allison Hovie had a double-double with 16 kills and 17 digs, with sister Kristin Hovie getting 10 kills. Libero Bailey Walker had 24 digs, while Alexis LaGoy hit .346 with 11 kills and seven digs.
UAlbany played aggressive early, with Leindecker notching the first kill and ace as the Great Danes led 3-1. Following a BU kill, Hunter capped a 3-0 UAlbany run with two kills, then sparked another run with a kill and block, adding an Allison Hovie error and McCauley ace to make it 10-3. Binghamton got a pair of points back, then Hunter earned another kill to send Spreen back to serve. Spreen served UAlbany through a 5-0 run, capped by an ace, to send UAlbany up 15-5. At 16-7, four-straight Binghamton errors, a pair helped by a Leindecker solo block and a Dolan-Furlong combo block, made the score 20-7 UAlbany. Binghamton had a couple of late points, but UAlbany held its opponent off, finishing the set on a Leindecker kill to win game one 25-16.
After losing the first point of set two, UAlbany took five of the next seven points, including kills from four different players, to lead 5-3. After a Hunter kill made it 7-5, Binghamton used two Allison Hovie kills in a 5-0 run to go ahead 10-7. Engstrom called timeout, and UAlbany responded with three-straight, sandwiched by two Leindecker kills, to tie the set at 10-10. Binghamton went back ahead, then at 13-11, UAlbany took the lead on a run of three to go up 14-13. BU got the lead back at 16-15. The Great Danes countered with a Furlong kill, Hunter kill, BU attack error and a Lopes ace, inducing Binghamton to call timeout. Jungsten added another kill to finish the 5-0 run to put UAlbany up 20-16. The Bearcats came back, taking five of the next six to tie the set at 21. Back-and-forth the teams exchanged, as the score stood tied 23-23. Kristin Hovie sent an attack towards the center, which was blocked alone by Dolan to the floor. The next point, Dolan finished it with a kill from the middle to the far side as UAlbany won set two 25-23 to go up 2-0 in the match.
UAlbany picked up where it left off in the previous set, with McCauley notching an ace through a player's arms, then Dolan with two-straight kills to start up 3-0. The sides kept exchanging kills, as UAlbany lead 10-7 off back-and-forth play. BU went on a 4-0 run to go ahead. The run nearly went to 5-0 on a serve, but a couple of diving saves for UAlbany, then on the third touch, the ball hit the top of the net and to the BU back row for the point to tie it up at 11-11. After an exchange, the Bearcats put together a 5-0 run to go up 17-12. UAlbany used a couple of kills to pull within three at 18-15, but another Bearcats run of seven sealed the game to Binghamton 25-15, as UAlbany held a 2-1 lead in the match.
Early kills in the middle from Hunter and Dolan gave UAlbany an early 4-2 lead in the fourth set, later leading 7-4 off kills from Hunter and Jungsten. Binghamton got the next two, then UAlbany countered with two kills and a BU attack error to push ahead 11-7. BU won the next three, then UAlbany took the following three, capped by two Leindecker kills, for a 14-10 score. At 15-11, BU won four of the next five to pull within one. UAlbany held the lead, using kills from Furlong and Hunter to put the lead back at three 18-15. Binghamton came back within one at 19-18, with Jungsten holding the lead with a kill. Allison Hovie notched a kill, then Dolan earned a kill then blocked a BU attack to make it 22-19 UAlbany. Kills by the Hovie sisters helped put a 3-0 run together to tie the set at 22, leading UAlbany to call a timeout. Attack errors by both sides made it 23-23. After a timeout, Hunter tipped the ball over for the kill, then Jungsten powered one over for the kill to finish the set as UAlbany won 25-23 to take the match in four.
