July 26, 2024

VESTAL, NY (WBNG) -- The Binghamton Bearcats Volleyball Team is running a positional camp this week for athletes at the junior high and high school levels who want to develop their skills in a fun and challenging environment.

The Bearcats Volleyball Team is still a month out from the start of their 2024-25 season. In the meantime, the program is hosting an instructional camp for players at the varsity and junior varsity levels to help them improve their volleyball games. Fifth-year captain and outside hitter Tsetelina Ilieva says their biggest goal is to prepare the next generation for college volleyball.

“They’re going to just work on different drills, get a gist of what college playing looks like,” said Ilieva. “Syd and I can jump in playing with them a little bit. And it’s kind of just teaching the younger generation what college volleyball looks like.”

With many prospective Bearcat Volleyball players attending the camp, Binghamton Associate Head Coach CJ Werneke spoke about specific qualities and traits they are searching for as a coaching staff when observing various drills and exercises.

“It’s infectious when they have intangibles,” said Werneke. “Like leadership, grit, vocalization. All those things we place a high priority here at Binghamton Volleyball, so when we see somebody like that, we’re naturally drawn to them.”

The Bearcats finished last season 15-13 and lost in straight sets in the American East final to UMBC. Ilieva believes it’s important for their program to have ties with the entire Southern Tier so that can get the much-needed support for their crucial games.

“For us to create a whole community of Vestal students or Ithaca students so that when we need support on those championship games, those semifinal games,” said Ilieva. “We had when we hosted, the whole West Gym was full. We want the whole Events Center to be full.”

This also happened to be the first year the team included boys in addition to girls in their camp. Werneke expanded on Ilieva’s comments about building the community between Binghamton athletics and the Southern Tier and discussed the significance of having a partnership with the next pipeline of athletes.

“This is just a collaboration,” said Werneke. “Like, ‘Hey, we’re into volleyball, if you are or you’re interested in volleyball, hey come out and learn something, support us during the year, we’ll come out and support you during your events.’”

Binghamton opens up at home in the Bearcat Classic against Merrimack on Friday, August 30th, at 10 A.M.