MOORHEAD, Minn. - Bemidji State's volleyball
team split its first two matches at the Minnesota State-Moorhead
Tournament today, downing Concordia-Moorhead 3-1 in its opener
and then falling 3-0 to St. Cloud State in the afternoon
tilt.
After taking two of the first three games,
Bemidji State used a 6-0 scoring burst to notch the score
at 12-12 in game four. That run propelled the Beavers to
a decisive game four win and 3-1 match victory against Concordia-Moorhead
at Alex Nemzek Gymnasium. In the afternoon match, BSU was
dealt a 3-0 setback at the hands of St. Cloud State in day
number one at the Minnesota State-Moorhead Tournament. The
first match gave head coach Kim Falkenhagen her first collegiate
win.
"It is so good to get rid of the jitters and get the
win under the belt right away," said Falkenhagen. "It
was real nice to get that out of the way."
Scores against
Concordia-Moorhead were 30-26, 23-30, 30-20 and 30-26.
In
splitting the first two games, the Beavers rattled off 13
of 17 points, including five straight, to take a commanding
17-9 lead in game three against Concordia-Moorhead. The Cobbers
got to within three points at 20-17, but BSU was too much,
scoring 10 of the final 13 points.
Three Beavers tallied double-doubles
in kills and digs. Senior Kristin Peterson tied
junior Kristin
Smith on the active
list with her 14th career double as she had a game-high 17
kills and 12 digs. Senior Lisa Smith, who was one dig shy
of a personal-best, recorded her sixth career double-double
with 13 kills and 17 digs. Junior Kelly Piper notched
11 kills and 13 digs, her fourth career double-double. Meanwhile, Kristin
Smith came away with her fifth highest assists mark
(58) of her career.
Bemidji State could not get much going in games
one and two against St. Cloud State. In BSU's first
showing against its former head coach, Patricia Mickow, the
green and white
trailed by counts of 6-16 and 6-12. Then, the Beavers came
to life in the third stanza going up 21-18 after six straight
points. Lisa Smith had three of her game-high 16 kills during
that stretch. However, SCSU closed with a 10-2 match-ending
run. The Huskies won by scores of 30-21, 30-15 and 30-25.
Junior
Kristine Engman totaled a game-high 13 digs, her 19th career
double-digit effort. Peterson added 10 kills and nine
digs in the losing effort.
"In the last game, we showed some character and heart,"
said Falkenhagen. "But, we were flat and nervous for
the first two games. Unfortunately, we turned their momentum
around a little too late."
Several reserves saw action in
games two and three, sophomore Christa Anderson, freshman
Lindsay Bromenshenkel, and redshirt
freshman Kathryn McCannell. Anderson came away with two kills
while McCannell had two digs.
BSU wraps up action in Moorhead
tomorrow with two matches. The first one pits the Beavers
against Dakota Wesleyan at
10:00 a.m. with Valley City State to follow at 4:00 p.m.
Notes:
BSU improves to 31-7-1 in the all-time series with Concordia-Moorhead
while it drops to 13-33 against the Huskies…The
Beavers move to 23-12 all-time in season-openers…With
Kristin Smith's 58 assists against C-M, BSU is 7-0
when she has more than 55 assists…Smith's two-day
total of 93 assists inches her closer to the sixth-spot on
the school's career list – she stands with 1,330,
just 13 shy…With the win in neutral territory, BSU
matches that win total from last season…Dating back
to the 2001 campaign, B SU is 6-1 in 5-game matches.
* rally-scoring era only, since 2001
