CROOKSTON, Minn. - Freshman defensive specialist Alicia Beaman recorded a personal collegiate-high and 2004 team-best 28 digs at Lysaker Gymnasium Tuesday, but its tough to win matches without an effective offense. The Beavers only managed to hit .108 as they were defeated by Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe University of Minnesota Crookston 3-1 (30-26, 28-30, 30-24, 30-12).

Minnesota Crookston came out of the gates strong (30-28) recording 17 kills on 42 total attacks for a .286 hitting percentage. Though BSU hit just .057 in the second game, it was enough to even the match (1-1) as UMC committed one more error(13) than kills (12) posting a -.020 hitting percentage. Game three belonged to UMC (30-24) before the Golden Eagles capped the evening off with a 30-16 game four, collecting 21 kills on 42 attempts while committing five errors for a .381 hitting percentage.

Minnesota Crookston's Erin Flynn led the home team hitting a match-high .536 while collecting 18 kills. The setter, Jamie Wolff was on starting end of 47 kills for UMC.

Bemidji State's offense, led by senior outside hitter Kristine Engman (Virginia, Minn.) and freshman outside hitter Brittney Burns (Henderson, Minn.) totaled more attacks (167) than in any other match in 2004 but struggled to find the floor. The Beavers managed a hitting percentage greater than .190 in just the first game largely due to a strong defensive showing by the UMD defense which made 93 digs.

Engman and Burns were BSU's top hitters each collecting 11 kills. The senior's 11-kill total was a career-best while pacing the Beavers with a .200 hitting percentage. Senior Kristin Smith (Rockford, Ill.) and sophomore Kathryn McCannell (Brandon, Man.) shared the setting duties collecting 18 and 16 assists respectively.

The BSU floor defense was the strong point of the match tonight. Led by a career-effort by the defensive specialist Beaman, the team made a season-high 71 defensive saves in the game. Engman completed her third double-double of 2004 with 13 digs while senior Kelly Piper rounded out BSU's double-digit defensive leaders with 10 digs.

The loss drops Bemidji State's overall record to 6-10 while the team is 2-5 in NSIC play. The team will be back in action Friday when it travels to St. Cloud State University to face former BSU and current head coach of the Huskies Patricia Mikow at 7:00 p.m. at Halenbeck Hall. Saturday the team wraps up a six-match road swing with a 3:00 p.m. tilt at the University of South Dakota.