Bemidji, Minn. - In its 2004 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener, the Bemidji State University volleyball team was defeated, 3-0, by No. 4 Concordia University-St. Paul Friday in front of 314 at the BSU Gymnasium (30-15, 30-15, 30-19). Senior middle hitter Heather Haugen (Lanesboro, Minn.) and freshman outside hitter Brittney Burns (Henderson, Minn.) who each collected nine kills in the match led BSU.

The Beavers struggled to get their offensive attack off the ground for the second straight match. On 115 total attempts, BSU converted 29 into points while committing 24 errors for a .043 hitting percentage.

As the match began, BSU hung with the Golden Bears for the first 12 points (5-7), but CU rattled off eight of the next nine points behind a three-kill run from Kelsey Kyro to take a 15-6 lead. The Beavers would assemble two-point runs twice later in the game, but CU would put the first game away 30-15.

Concordia-St. Paul's Cailin Tehaar got the Golden Bears an early lead in game two, serving the first ten points of the game and putting CU up 10-0. BSU countered by scoring six of the next nine points (6-13) but aside from a sporadic kill after that, it would not get anything going dropping the second game 30-15.

Hitting .206 (13k-6e-34att) in game three the Beavers may have saved the best for last. Again BSU hung with the No. 4 team in Division II for the better part of the game battling CU to 9-12 score at the midway point. But the Golden Bears came alive going on a 12-3 scoring run, doubling the Beavers score (24-12) an continuing on to win the game 30-19 and the match in consecutive games.

The loss drops the Beavers to 3-6 overall and 0-1 in NSIC play while Concordia-St Paul improves to 11-1 overall and 1-0 in the league. BSU will wrap up its current three-game home stand Saturday (Sept. 18) at 3:00 p.m. when it hosts Winona State University in its second NSIC match of 2004.