Junior Erin Graham |
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – After winning the first game, the Niagara University volleyball team (0-2) lost three straight to Binghamton (1-1), 30-25, 24-30, 29-31, 23-30, to drop its second match in the Western New York Invitational at Gallagher Center Saturday afternoon.
The Purple Eagles were led by junior Michelle LeSouder with 17 kills. The outside hitter moved into second place on Niagara’s career kills list with 982. She needs 147 kills to take over first.
Junior Erin Graham had 16 kills and 15 digs, classmate Micole Daluisio (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) 17 digs and setter Jennifer Hansford 32 assists and 12 digs.
Binghamton was led by Anne Crocus with 20 kills and seven blocks. The middle hitter had nine kills and hit .467 in the third game. Michele Heck and Jen Smith added 13 and 10 kills, respectively.
"We thought this was a match we should have won," Niagara head coach Rocco Lucci said. "Considering they had one dominant person (Crocus), we should have done a better job adjusting to her. We did, but not fast enough.
"Our middles played really well but they were limited by our passing," he continued. "Our plan, as shown by our outside hitters getting 102 attacks, has to get the ball high and outside and hit over their setter. Once we started getting blocked, we didn’t adjust quick enough on the floor."
In game one, Niagara built an 11-3 lead, capitalizing on seven Binghamton errors. The Bearcats fought to draw within one, 22-21, with a 7-0 run, but LeSouder pounded two kills, had a service ace and Graham added two kills to fuel a 7-3 run to close the game.
The second game went back and forth until Binghamton used an 11-3 run to break from a 12-12 tie. Niagara pulled within four, 24-20, on two kills and an ace from junior Karen Simpson and a kill from freshman Raelean Rush (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home). The Bearcats then outscored Niagara, 6-5, for the win.
Crocus dominated the beginning of game three, registering four of Binghamton’s first five points on kills. Niagara broke back to tie the game at 8-8 with a pair of kills from Graham, and single kills each from Simpson and Rush. The Bearcats continued to feed Crocus, who collected three more kills to help Binghamton to a 22-15 lead. The Purple Eagles fought to within three points, 23-20, with three kills from Graham and two from Simpson. The teams battled back and forth until LeSouder had three kills and a Bearcats’ hitting error made it a one-point game, 28-27. A kill and an error by Crocus and another kill from LeSouder tied the game at 29, but two Purple Eagle errors gave Binghamton the win.
The final game had Niagara trailing for the majority of the game before it took advantage of four Binghamton errors to pull within three points, 25-22. The Bearcats then scored four of the next six points for the victory.
Niagara hit .141 for the match after opening with a .250 in game one. Binghamton hit .207, including .294 in game two.
The Purple Eagles are back in action at 7 p.m. when they host Texas Arlington (3-0).
