DULUTH, MINN. -- Offense was what Bemidji State (8-8, 0-2) needed to get out of a rut that has seen it lose five of the last six on the year. Tonight at the Reif Center, the Beavers handled the College of St. Scholastica (10-8), 3-1, behind a season-high .327 (77-25-159) hitting mark. Scores were 20-30, 30-22, 30-18, 30-22.

BSU was rusty in game one as the Saints led the whole way. The start had both clubs exchange 11 straight points after CSS took the first two. After a St. Scholastica time-out, the hosts went on a 11-3 run to end the game. Bemidji State hit its worst mark of the match at .175 (17-10-40).

After a quick deficit at 2-3, BSU notched four of the next five in game two and never trailed after that. A healthy dose of kills by senior Nicole McDougall fueled the early spurt as she tallied three of her season-high 21 kills. The Beavers slowly increased their advantage and blew the game wide open with a 10-3 run to even the match at one game apiece. A kill by senior Lisa Smith and the first block of the game for BSU by Smith and McDougall began the game-ending highlight.

The guests did not allow CSS to score more than two points at any one time en route to the game three win. With a 15-11 lead, BSU rattled off five straight and 15 of the final 22 to take the third game.

With the match on the line, Bemidji State took the life out of St. Scholastica with a 7-1 game four opening run. The Saints tried to stage a comeback with a 8-4 run but, after a BSU time-out, junior Heather Haugen powered home a kill to ignite a 8-0 response. After three CSS points, Smith ended the game and match with her 11th kill. She added 12 digs for her seventh career double-double and first since a 13 kill-17 dig effort against Concordia-Moorhead (8/29/03).

Keeping up her hot streak, senior Kristin Peterson recorded her 20th career double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs. Haugen went for a season-high 19 kills while junior Kristin Smith hit 48 assists. It was Smith’s second highest output of the season - she had 58 in the season opener against Concordia-Moorhead.

Minnesota-Crookston visits the BSU Gymnasium on Friday for a 7:00 p.m. start. BSU attempts to end its worst conference start (0-2) in eight seasons - the 1996 season saw BSU drop its first six NSIC contests.


NOTE: In the overall series, BSU improves to 13-6 and 5-3 in Duluth, Minn...In non-conference action in 2003, BSU moves to 8-6 - the best mark since the 1999 team went 11-2...The .327 hitting percentage tonight is the best since a .331 (69-16-160) effort against Minnesota-Crookston (10/29/02)...In dropping the first game but winning the match, BSU was 0-7 this season before tonight when losing game one...The 77 team kills is the most since the Beavers had 86 vs. Northern State (10/26/02)...Freshman setter Kathryn McCannellleft late in game one with an injured knee (right)...The 21 kills by Nicole McDougallis her highest total since she had a personal-best 23 vs. MSU-Moorhead, Oct. 23, 2001...Kristin Peterson now stands with seven double-doubles on the season, including three in the last four matches...Nicole McDougall takes over 11th place on the school’s career block assists list with 166 - she had three on the night.