After narrowly losing to University of Hartford on Sunday, the Binghamton University volleyball team suffered its second defeat of the week, falling 3-0 to Syracuse University on Wednesday night. The match was the last non-conference game of the season for the Bearcats, who have faced the Orange (14-8, 3-3 Big East) every season since joining Division I in 2001.

“I thought our team played hard,” BU head coach Glenn Kiriyama said. “Syracuse is just a better team right now. The sets were fairly tight, except for the very end of the second one. Syracuse executed [its opportunities] very well. They are a well-coached team, and they’ve got some good players on their side. They are a tough team to stop, and we’ve just got to do better on our side.”

The Bearcats (10-14, 2-4 AE) got off to a sluggish start as the Orange cruised to a 5-1 lead in the first set. BU bounced back to tie the score at seven, and Binghamton took its first lead of the set at 17-16 with an ace by senior Julie Chambers. The Orange recaptured the lead and the first set 25-19, however, as the Bearcats took only two out of the next 11 points.

Kiriyama believes the team’s lack of experience was the reason BU could not finish the set strongly.

“[It was down to] probably a lack of focus,” he said. “They are a young team, and a lot of times they are just not ready for things, and we’ve just gotta prepare them a little bit better.”

In the second set, the Bearcats raced to a 6-1 lead before Syracuse turned things around and pulled ahead 10-8. From that point, the Orange took over control and were able to close out the set 25-17, winning seven of the final 10 points.

With Syracuse ahead 18-10 in the third set, the Bearcats tried to fight their way back, winning five points in a row with the score at 21-14, and four in a row at 23-19 to level the set at 23. The comeback fell just short, however, as the Orange took home the next two points to win the third set 25-23 and the match in straight sets.

Freshman setter Amanda Dettmann notched a match-high 25 assists in the game, while sophomore libero Xiomara Ortiz anchored the defense with 12 digs.

The Bearcats committed a host of errors throughout the game, though, dishing out 16 attack errors, nine service errors and nine reception errors. Those numbers, for Kiriyama, are a cause for concern.

“Obviously there are a lot of things we need to work on,” he said. “We made a lot of errors out there. We’ve just got to keep working on getting better at executing our offense and serving a little bit better and things will work out. Hopefully one by one we can work on some small things and get them better.”

In their next game, the Bearcats are set to resume conference action when they visit reigning America East champion University at Albany. The Great Danes have won 10 out of their last 11 meetings against the Bearcats, including the 3-1 victory at Binghamton in the Bearcats’ conference opener on Sept. 25.

Kiriyama is well aware of the enormity of the challenge his team is up against.

“They are a good team, with good players and a great tradition,” Kiriyama said. “We know it is going to be a tough match every time we go there. We know we’ve got to play really well in order to compete with them.”

With Albany, Stony Brook University and University of New Hampshire cementing themselves at the top of the conference, Kiriyama admits that BU is in for a fight with the remaining three teams to clinch the fourth and final spot to compete in this year’s America East conference tournament.

“That is definitely our main goal,” Kiriyama said. “We are fighting for that last spot. We’ve got to take one game at a time. Each match that is coming up is going to be important, and we can’t afford too many more losses or else we are not going to make it.”

Action is scheduled to get underway at 5 p.m. Sunday in Albany’s University Gym.