Morris, Minn. - In breaking nearly a two-year drought on the road, the Beavers (4-7, 1-1 NSIC) came away with a conference 3-2 (28-30, 28-30, 30-15, 30-27, 15-12) thriller over the University of Minnesota-Morris (2-10, 0-2 NSIC). This marks the first NSIC victory for head coach Patricia Mickow.

After losing by a mere two points in each of the first two games, BSU dominated game three to swing the momentum in its favor.

Bemidji State led in both hitting percentage (.339) and assists (63) compared to UMM’s .222% and 43 assists. However, the Cougars had an amazing 94 digs while BSU had 30.

Four BSU players had 10+ kills led by the career-high 24 by junior outside hitter Lisa Smith (Hastings, Minn.) as she had a great .558 hitting percentage (24 kills-0 errors-43 total attempts). Junior outside hitter Kristin Peterson (Hayfield, Minn.), who has not seen much action this season, had a personal-best 19 kills as she had a good hitting percentage as well (.357).

Sophomore middle blocker Heather Haugen (Lanesboro, Minn.) added 10 kills while sophomore outside hitter Kelly Piper (Eagan, Minn.) had 11. Sophomore setter Kristin Smith (Rockford, Ill.) established a school record (in the rally-scoring era) in assists with 61.

For the Cougars, Jill Kimman and Jenna Maki recorded double-doubles with Kimman getting 17 kills and 23 digs and Maki having 11 kills and 17 digs. Ann Mielke chipped in 25 digs.

Before tonight’s NSIC win away from Bemidji, the last time that Bemidji State won an NSIC match on the road dates back to Nov. 4, 2000 in a 3-1 victory over Concordia-St. Paul

Bemidji State will welcome a pair of NSIC opponents to the BSU Gymnasium next weekend for the first time in 2002. UM-Crookston will be the foe on Friday at 7:00 p.m. while the match against Minnesota State-Moorhead is scheduled for Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

Notes: In three of the past four matches, Kristin Smith has tallied 45+ assists including a school-record 61 tonight...In all four BSU victories, Smith has had 45+ assists while in all seven of the losses she has been below that number...After tallying a .059 hitting percentage last night vs. Northern State, BSU bounces back with a .339 hitting percentage (76 kills-13 errors-186 total attempts) tonight, the best output since a 3-0 sweep over University of Wisconsin-Superior on Oct. 2, 2001...In that win, BSU had a .360% (60 kills-15 errors-125 total attempts)...The Beavers extended Minnesota-Morris’s losing streak to nine matches.