Bemidji, Minn. - The Bemidji State University volleyball team captured its first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory of the season Saturday as they defeated Winona State University in three straight games (30-27, 30-27, 30-19). Freshman Brittney Burns posted a career-high 19 kills to lead BSU as the Beavers hit .324 as a team.

BSU got out of the gates quickly scoring eight of the first 11 points of the match. But behind four kills from Kiersten Arendt mixed in with a few attacking errors and two service errors by the Beavers, the Warriors took a 20-18 lead. After a time out by BSU head coach Kim Falkenhagen, the Beavers pulled it together taking nine of the last 13 points of the game to win game one (30-27).

BSU again got out to an early lead (5-1) in game two, but the Warriors would battle back to knot the score at 9-9. Falkenhagen called her team into the huddle and as the Beavers returned to the floor, they rattled off seven of the next 10 points as seniors Heather Haugen and Kelly Piper combined for four kills and a pair of blocks to give BSU the 16-12 advantage. The Beavers would successfully hold off the ensuing Warrior charge to gain a victory in game two (30-27).

The Beavers continued the trend of early leads going up 7-2 in the first minutes of the third game. Although WSU would come as colse at two points three times in the final stanza, the Beavers would go on a 9-2 run to put the final game away (30-19) as Haugen and fellow senior Kristine Engman would each collect a pair of kills down the stretch.

The victory brings BSU's overall record to 4-6 while it evens the teams NSIC record at 1-1. It also put an end to the Beavers four-match slide. BSU will return to action next when the team travels to Duluth, Minn. to take on nationally ranked, former NSIC foe University Minnesota Duluth at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 21.